Zootopia: The Hunt
by emmydisney17
Summary: When rumors spread about the return of that murderous human past time, hunting down animals, Nick, Ella and Judy spring into action to see if the rumors are true or not. Along they way they come across a story about the past of both human and animal and stumble into something none of them expected
1. Chapter 1

**Zootopia: The Hunt**

 **Chapter One**

It had been about one whole year since the night howler incident that had been caused by Bellwether and Jefferson and when Nick became part of the ZPD police force and had adopted Ella as his daughter. Judy had moved into Nick and Ella's new house to help Nick out with taking care of Ella since the human girl had also became part of the rabbit's life. Several humans had decided to move to Zootopia and had been welcomed with open arms by every animal in the city. Jason and Isabella were among those humans and they made some animal friends of their own since the first week that they began their new lives. Jason had befriended a young male wolf named Chris who loved everything about soccer while Isabella befriended a female snow leopard named Susan who had a taste for fashion. Life in Zootopia was great as everyone got along with each other and shared their dreams of what they wanted to do for the future. Ella couldn't ask for anything else in the world as she was happy to have a father who loved her and a dream to finally live up to, yet today she was facing a small dilemma; oversleeping during the last day of school.

"Ella, wake up!" shouted Nick from downstairs "You're going to be late for school!"

Upon hearing that she was going to be late for school, Ella bolted up from bed with a fearful look on her face.

"Oh no!" shouted Ella as she ran around her room, gathering her day clothes as fast as she could "I can't believe I forgot to set my alarm clock last night!

Quickly she showered, brushed her teeth and combed her hair before tying it up in a ponytail. She quickly ran down stairs wearing a light blue short sleeve shirt, brown shorts and white socks. Ella soon came to the kitchen where she saw her dad Nick Wilde in his police officer uniform along with Judy, who had a piece of toast with jam sitting on a plate that she placed on the kitchen, along with a glass of orange juice, before she started making a lunch for Ella to take to school.

"Sorry!" Ella exclaimed as she sat herself at the kitchen table with her dad "I forgot to set my alarm clock last night."

Nick let out a sigh before offering an amused smile at his adopted daughter.

"You really got to get your head in the game Ella," Nick said as he took a sip of his coffee "It might be the last day of school before summer comes around, but that doesn't mean you get to slack off."

"This coming from a fox who is so lazy all the time when it comes down to paperwork at the ZPD." Judy said with a smirk.

Nick gave Judy a glare before childishly sticking out his tongue at Judy. Ella let out a giggle at the scene in front of her before she quickly ate her toast and downed her juice in one gulp before she stood up from the table and took off with the lunch box that Judy handed to her.

"Thanks Judy," Ella said as she made her way towards the door "I'll see you guys later!"

"You backpack's hanging by the front door as usual." Nick said, reminding his daughter where she left her backpack "Also, Judy and I will be a little late getting home, what with all the police work that Chief Bogo will give us today."

"I know daddy," Ella said as she gave her dad a smile before racing towards the door "I gotta go now, bye!"

Nick shook his head as he jumped off the chair and walked up to Judy who smiled at him.

"I swear Judy, she's becoming more like you each and every day." Nick said with a smirk.

"Huh, that's funny." Judy said with a smirk of her own "Because it seems to me that she's becoming more like you each day."

Nick was about to give her a smart remark but was interrupted when Ella came running back into the kitchen wearing white runners on her feet.

"You forgot something?" Nick asked with a chuckle.

"Yeah," Ella said before she gave Nick and Judy a hug, that they returned happily "I love you guys."

Ella gave Nick and Judy a good bye kiss on their cheeks before heading towards the door again.

"Love you too!" Judy called after as soon as the front door closed.

Nick smiled before he gently nudged his partner and friend in the shoulder.

"Come on Carrots, we better get ourselves to work before we end up in detention." Nick joked.

Judy only chuckled before she grabbed the keys to their car and followed Nick out the door

* * *

Ella ran as fast as her legs could carry her as she quickly made her way to the school bus stop. Luckily she made it on time before it started to leave. The bus driver, who was an antelope, looked at Ella with a small smile on his face.

"Almost cutting it a little close there missy," said the driver.

"Sorry," said Ella with a shrug before she heard someone calling out her name.

"Ella, over here!"

Ella turned to see where the voice had come from and saw Jason, Isabella, Chris, Susan and a male golden retriever sitting at the back of the bus.

Jason was wearing a dark blue shirt with white sleeves, blue jeans and red runners. Isabella was wearing a pink summer dress with flower patterns on it and white sandals, while her hair hung freely down to her shoulder.

Chris had gray fur with a dark gray patch on his snout and light brown eyes. He was wearing a light green soccer jersey with the number 16 on it and black shorts. Chris was energetic and outgoing, but he also likes to make friends with people and animals outside of his soccer team. Chris and Jason met one another when they accidently ran into each other in the hallways on their first day of school. Since then the two have been hanging out with Chris showing Jason a few of his soccer moves while Jason helped up by coming up with soccer strategies for Chris' team to use in their game.

Susan was a beautiful white snow leopard with bright blue eyes and she was wearing a light pink shirt and a blue jean skirt. Susan was a fashion diva that quickly made friends with Isabella and since then the two of them always hung out with each other as much as they could but despite her being a fashion artist Susan is considerate towards others and has a love for music. Susan is also a big Gazelle fan and longs to become a pop singer like her one day.

The last animal friend within Ella's circle of friends was Stan, a golden retriever with a heart of gold. Stan was wearing a red T-Shirt and grey pants. His eyes were an almond brown with a few flecks of green in them. Stan was known to be a little shy around people he really hadn't gotten to know in school but he soon became friends with Ella when he helped her find her class. Since then he became part of Ella's circle of friends and has known to be brave when it came to standing up against bullies who would try to hurt his friends.

"Hey guys," Ella greeted as she walked up to the group.

"You were nearly late for the bus." Chris said as Stan moved aside so Ella could sit between him and Isabella.

"Yeah," Ella said with an embarrassed giggle as she sat down on the seat before the bus started moving "I forgot to set my clock last night and I overslept."

"Almost happened to me," Jason said "But I got a very rude awakening from my older brother."

"What did he do?" Susan asked

"He dumped a cold bucket of water on me," Jason said.

The group laughed at what Jason had told them before they got down to talking about what they were going to do for their summer vacation.


	2. Chapter 2

**Chapter Two**

While Ella and her friends were at school, Nick and Judy were hard at work with their latest case; apparently the local park reported several disturbances with some kind of 'creepy creature' that keeps scaring anyone who comes into the park. So far it scared away the Ottertons before it devoured their picnic, covered a sloth couple in dirt while they were napping and stole several baseball bats and balls in the middle of a junior league game. Either this was a prankster on the loose or something far more worse at play, still they were sure they were going to find the culprit sooner or later.

Now all they need is an idea.

"So Carrots, what's the plan?" Nick asked.

"We have to lure whoever is responsible for all this out of hiding and into the light." Judy said "And I figured out a plan, now all I need is some bait. Someone will have to go out into the park, wave some food around and attract the attention of this prankster while I hide and get ready to ponce."

"Swell, who's going to be the bait." Nick asked.

Judy turned to Nick with a smile and Nick's own smile dropped when he realized what she had in mind.

The next thing Nick knew, he was alone in the park with Judy hiding somewhere and he was holding a basket of blueberries in his hand as he looked around aimlessly for something out of the ordinary.

"Uh, Hello out there, anyone out there... I've got some blueberries here! They're delicious! Yum Yum!" Nick called out as he waved the basket of berries in his hands uneasily while he kept his eyes open for anything strange. "If you don't want any, I guess I'll have to eat them all myself!"

Suddenly he heard someone walking towards him and turned, but there was nothing behind him. With a chill running up and down his spine as he turned again before he heard someone breathing behind the bushes he was next to. "Oh please let that be you Carrots." Nick whispered to himself fearfully.

He put down the basket and reached out to peek through the bushes, snakingly and fearfully before he pushed the bushes back... and saw nothing. He let out a sigh as he turned to get the basket, letting out a startled yelp when he realized the basket had been tipped over and all the berries were gone!

"Carrots! Where are you?!" He asked loudly as he looked around "If this is a joke, it's not funny!"

He heard a snarling sound coming from behind a tree and looked behind it... and what he saw was something that made his mouth drop in shock. There, hunched over a pile of blueberries, was a 12 year old human girl with wild brown hair that looked like she had never washed or cut it and she was covered in dirt with her peach skin covered in scraps, bruises and cuts and around her chest and waist was blue loincloth. Nick wasn't sure he was staring at a Tarzan or Jungle Book fan or a for real feral child. Nick soon got his answer when the girl looked up, staring eye to eye at the fox with drool oozing out of her mouth as well as juice from the blueberries. That crazy look in the child's blue eyes told Nick that this was differently not a child actor, this was a for real feral!

"Uh... Hello." Nick said "I... uh, guess your the creepy creature everyone's been afraid of. Do you understand me?"

The feral girl snarled and Nick felt a little frightened as the girl walked on all fours towards him and it reminded him of what happened to those animals who fell victim to the Night Howler sickness a year ago. He turned to run but tripped and the girl easily pinned him down and snarled at him.

"Carrots! Judy! HELP!" Nick screamed in terror as she felt the girl's sharp nails pierce his back.

Judy emerged with a net and threw it over the girl, trapping her as she thrashed about while Nick crawled away before hiding behind the rabbit fearfully saying "What took you so long?!"

"I... I can't believe it... a real human feral!" Judy exclaimed in amazement as the girl kept thrashing about in the net.

"I can't believe it either." Nick said "I thought she was going to eat me!"

"What are you doing to her!?"

Judy and Nick jumped before a fox ran into view. She was the most beautiful fox that Nick had ever seen in all his life. She had beautiful dark brown eyes, a blue baseball cap on her head with a beautiful yellow flower on it, a navy blue vest and a long sleeves blue plaid shirt with black shorts and leggings.

"Who are you miss?" Judy asked

"I'm Kiana Kipling," the fox said "And that's Logan, one of the acts in the circus I work in!"

"You own her?" Judy asked in shock.

"Oh no, not like 'illegal' type of owning." Kiana explained "My Boss did the paperwork and made sure everything was legal. Besides, I take very good care of her and do my best to give her as much things a human needs."

Judy looked at Logan, who had stopped thrashing and was looking at them and realized she was wearing a collar reading 'Logan, Feral Child, If found return to Mr. Baloo at the Roaring Wild Brother's Circus'. Judy frowned as she looked at the child and said "First off, I am not happy that you have her wear a collar like she's a pet or a prisoner, second, if she's so well taken care of how come she's covered in scraps and bruises?"

"She ran away." Kiana explained "I was training her when she got scared and ran off, and she must. I know this looks bad but I don't have a choice, i'd never have any human treated this badly, feral or no, but my boss thinks that having ferals in the circus would boost his popularity, at least until we find a different act once Logan and the others no longer become popular."

"Ferals? You mean there's more then one?" Judy asked

Kiana just removed the net from the feral and Logan embraced her in a hug. Kiana attached a leach to Logan's collar and said "Don't worry Logan, i'll take you back home and give you a nice relaxing bath."

"Nick, don't you think the whole thing is wrong?" Judy asked before she realized something and asked again "Nick."

Nick was smitten as a goofy smile grew on his face and he walked over to her saying "I... Wow, your the mot beautiful fox in the whole world... where have you been all my life?"

Kiana blushed before she said "Well, I've been traveling a lot and... would you like to come to the circus sometimes? I could get you some tickets or something once we figure our where to preform next."

"Oh, sure, I haven't seen a circus in years! I can bring my daughter and my friend Judy here... can we have the closest seat for your show?" Nick asked

Kiana smiled before she heard a car horn honk and she said "We'll figure something out. Until then, bye!" She looked at Logan and said "Wave bye like we practiced."

Logan waved her hand before walking off on all fours after Kiana before they hopped into the back of a van and drove off. Judy was still angry about the whole thing while Nick was on Cloud 9 before Judy grabbed his tie and dragged him away.

"Come on Nick, let's find out a little more about this circus she works in and about their feral act." Judy said.

"Did you see the way her tail swayed with the wind?" Nick asked in a lovesick voice "It was so... wow, what a babe."

Judy looked at Nick and jumped, slapping him across his face and snapping him out of his trance as he yelled "OUCH!"


	3. Chapter 3

**Chapter Three**

At school, Ella and every other kid in the classroom were quietly working on their test as they answered the questions that were on the sheet of paper. Ella soon wrote down the last answer to her question before the clock on the teacher's desk let out a beep in signaling that time was up. The teacher, a male black bear named Mr. Clay, stood up from his desk.

"Time's up!" Mr. Clay shouted as he got his student's attention. "Hand in your tests before leaving the class room!"

The kids did as they were told and handed in their papers before the bell rang, telling everyone that their final day at school was finally over. Ella made it to her locker and began to enter the code on her lock when she felt someone tap her on the shoulder. Ella turned to look around and saw Stan standing behind her with a smile on his face.

"Hey Ella." Stan said.

"Hey Stan," Ella said with a smile before she opened her locker and began to gather up her stuff "Are you excited about summer vacation?"

"Do you even have to ask?" Stan questioned Ella with a smirk.

Ella laughed before she closed her locker and began to walk with Stan down the hall as they headed towards the exit where they would meet up with the rest of the gang.

"So what do you think you'll be doing on your summer vacation?" Stan asked.

"I don't really know." Ella said with a shrug of her shoulders "Maybe go to Bunny Burrow to meet Judy's family? I really want to meet Bonnie, Stu and Judy's 275 brothers and sisters. I also want to see that their farm is like."

Stan's eyes were wide when he heard that Judy had 275 brothers and sisters before he gave out a whistle.

"Boy," Stan said as he rubbed the back of his neck "I'm so glad I only have one sibling, which happens to be my little sister."

How old is your sister?" Ella asked

"You could say she's three years old," Stan said as he adjusted his backpack on his shoulders. "And she's a bundle of energy, let me tell you. You take your eyes off of her for one second and she gets herself into a ton of trouble."

"She sounds sweet." Ella said with a smile.

"Maybe you, your dad and Officer Hopps can come around to my house sometimes to meet my family during the summer." Stan offered.

"I'll see what my dad says," Ella said as she and Stan walked out the doors of their school before spotting their friends at the bottom of the stairs "Hey guys!"

Jason, Chris, Susan and Isabella turned their heads to see Stan and Ella walking towards them.

"What took you guys so long?" Chris asked as he held a soccer ball under his arm.

"Sorry, got held up." Ella said as she and Stan stood before the group.

"Oh, really?" asked Susan with a playful smile on her face.

"Don't even go there Susan." warned Stan with a glare.

Susan only chuckled while Ella only shook her head at the snow leopard in disapproval before Jason stepped into the conversation.

"You guys ready to head for the park?" Jason asked.

"You bet," Chris replied with a smirk "I've been meaning to show you guys some new moves I've been practicing on."

"I'm not so sure that going to the park is such a good idea." Stan said.

"What do you mean?" Isabella asked with a frown.

"Well... I've been hearing rumors about some kind of monster stalking around in the park," Stan explained "There have been sightings of the monster taking away people's food when they're having a picnic and another sighting where they were getting pelted with dirt."

"Oh, come on Stan, there's no such things as monsters." Chris said "They're just myths that adults make up to scare kids into behaving, like the boogeyman that hides in your closet or the monster in the closet."

"Besides, the only thing we have to fear is fear itself." Jason stated "Everyone knows that."

"Yeah, I guess your right." Stan said "But still..."

"Stan, I'm sure those rumors about a monster in the park are not true." Ella reassured, placing a comforting hand on the golden retriever's shoulder "Besides, my dad and Judy have probably already looked into it and found out what it really was. Probably just someone trying to scare people by playing pranks on them."

Stan smiled before the group made their way towards the park and started to chat among themselves before Jason brought up something that got the group's interest.

"Hey, I just heard about this circus that's going to be coming to Zootopia." Jason said "My parents and I are going to see it once the tickets come out on line."

"Yeah, I've heard about that too." Chris said with a frown "I don't remember the name, but I heard that it has some major attractions. Saying something about feral... something."

At the word 'feral' Ella turned to look at Chris with a worried look along with the others. After the whole night howler incident everyone, human and animal alike, were very careful when mentioning that word, along with other related words to it, in front of the victims that had been turned into wild beast. Ella knew that Manchas and Mr. Otterton were still a little sore about that, even the very mention of that horrible event in their lives, even though it had been a year since it happened. Chris noticed the looks on his friends' faces before giving them a reassuring smile.

"Don't worry, it's probably nothing." Chris said with a wave of his paw "It's probably just performers acting, you know, pretending to be feral."

"Still, it's best that you don't use that word around animals who had turned savage." Susan said after looking around to make sure nobody was listening in on their conversation "It's still a very touchy subject."

"Yeah, I know." Chris muttered uneasily "My uncle, Benjamin, was one of those predators who had turned savage and he still has nightmares about being muzzled and being put into a cramped cage where he's completely closed off from the world. It's been really hard on my mom as well."

"I'm sorry about your uncle buddy," Jason said in sympathy "I can't even imagine what it would be like to be muzzled and put into a cage like that if I had turned savage."

"And let's just hope you never will." Susan said "Even though your ancestors hunted ours a long time ago, it was thanks to Ella, Officer Wilde and Officer Hopps that humans and animals are now living together in Zootopia.

"Yeah, I wouldn't surprise me if Ella is related to one of the two female heroes from long ago." Isabella said with a smile.

Ella blushed at that comment before smiling as she remembered the story of how two human girls Amanda and Alyssa had helped save the animals from the great hunt that evil humans had started many years ago by uniting with the animals.

"I don't think it's possible." Ella said.

"Who knows, maybe you are." Stan said as he offered Ella a smile.

Ella only chuckled at that but began to think over what the others said and couldn't help but imagine that maybe she is a descendant of one of those two famous heroines of her village.

* * *

Meanwhile Nick and Judy had gotten back to the ZPD and were filling out the papers of what they had experienced back at the park. Well... Judy was, Nick was still in la-la-land as he kept thinking about that beautiful red fox he had meet. Judy noticed this before she smacked Nick in the back of the head.

"Ow!" Nick exclaimed before he turned to glare at Judy "What was that for?"

"Get your head in the game Nick," ordered Judy as she got back to writing down her report. "These papers aren't going to sign themselves."

"Oh sorry," Nick grumbled as he rubbed the back of his head "I didn't know daydreaming was illegal in the ZPD."

Judy let out an exasperating sigh before she turned to Nick with a serious look on her face.

"How can you be thinking about that vixen at a time like this when we just witnessed a feral human?" Judy questioned.

"The vixen's name is Kiana," Corrected Nick with a frown "And I don't really see why you're so railed up about seeing a feral human."

Judy only glared at him before she turned back to her paper work again.

"Well I don't think we should get tickets to that Roaring Wild Brothers' Circus." Judy said.

"Oh come on Carrots," Nick said in annoyance "It will be something to do this summer vacation. And I'm sure that Ella will like it once she sees it."

Judy highly doubted that because she had a very sick feeling in her stomach that if Ella saw that circus with feral humans in it that were caged up like wild animals... then Ella might experience something that might scare her for life.


	4. Chapter 4

**Chapter Four**

Once work was finally over Nick and Judy decided to find out more about the Roaring Wild Brothers' circus. They looked at the computer for any information from that circus and found lots. They had tumblers made from a family of bears, a preforming animal band that glowed in the dark, acrobats that were all rodents from mice to rats, contortionist pigs, daredevil dogs on bikes, a bunch of clowns of all shapes and sizes, a lion magician, a team of amazing jump roping foxes and finally Kiana and her Feral Humans.

The act was suppose to be like a freak show mixed with a wild animal show with Kiana training the feral humans to jump through hoops, stand on chairs and other things. Judy thought it was the most insulting thing ever made and Nick could tell that, from her photos, that Kiana didn't like her act either. Upon digging a little deeper they discover that ever since the feral humans came into the big top, they had been plagued with rumors and reports of accidents happening in the big top and everywhere the circus had preformed and at every crime scene human handprints are found.

"I wonder... could this be coincidence or is there something strange going on under the big top?" Judy asked

"Well, guess wither way we're going to the circus. For business or fun, whichever comes first." Nick said

"Hey, look at this." Judy said as she pointed to what she got on the circus website; it was Kiana's backstory, the story of her life before she became part of the big top. "It says here that Kiana was only ten years old when her family joined the circus and she has been living with the circus ever since, some say that the rumors were because of the shame her ancestor Joseph Kipling did in the past."

"So what?" Nick asked "What kind of bad thing did this Joseph guy do that was so horrible that it put his whole family in a circus to hide the shame?"

"It says... because he helped start the Great Hunt!" Judy exclaimed.

At that, Nick spat out his coffee in shock and gasped for air. Her ancestor helped start the Great Hunt?! The very thing that separated both humans and animals in the first place all those years ago?! Nick could hardly believe it. He stood up and asked "Is it true?"

"Well, nobody knows for sure, but apparently her parents were convinced." Judy said "Man, I can't imagine spending your whole life in the circus just because of something that could or couldn't be true."

Nick thought about something before saying "Well, looks like we have a search and rescue mission on our hands. If we can prove that her ancestor had nothing to do with the hunt then the whole family can finally quit and have a normal life. We might even be able to save the ferals too."

"Nick, we can't go to the circus just because you want to play the hero and save a damsel in distress from a life of free popcorn and carnival music. Besides, what if Kiana isn't as sweet as she seems?"

"And what if she is?" Nick asked "You don't know her anymore then I do."

Before they could argue further, Nick's cell phone rang and he answered it "Hello?"

"Daddy!" The voice on the other side said.

"Hey baby, how are you?" Nick asked with a smile on his face.

"Have you heard about the circus?" Ella asked "Me and my friends were visiting the park when we saw the flyers. The whole thing looks amazing!"

"Oh really?" Nick asked "That's funny, me and Judy were just talking about it."

"Some of my friends are even going to go to the circus once tickets come out." Ella said "Maybe we can go to it and check it out?"

"Oh sure kiddo, you'll love it!" Nick said with a smile "They got it all, the tumblers, the clowns, the acrobats, the feral humans-"

"WHAT?!"

Nick almost dropped his phone when Ella suddenly exclaimed like someone had given her a bad scare and he saved it before it fell onto the floor, placing it back into his ear just in time to hear Ella say "What did you say?"

"I... I said feral humans." Nick said "Don't you think it could be... you know, something exciting?"

"You mean as horrible as what happened last year with the Night Howlers?" Ella asked

"Oh no! They're nothing like that!" Nick said "I... I mean I know that humans don't act wild and stuff but I can assure you that they are nothing like what happened back then. I thought everyone in the city had gotten over it?"

"No, they haven't!" Ella said hurtfully "In fact, one of my friend's uncle keeps having nightmares about being muzzled and locked up in cages! Do they have muzzles and cages?"

"No no, absolutely no cages or muzzles!" Nick said "It's more of a... a Tarzan thing!"

"What would you do if I tuned wild? Would you like it if I turned into a feral?" Ella asked "Or maybe you wouldn't care because you don't know what it's like to see someone you love with all your heart turn into a... and treated like a... and-and locked away from the whole world like a... savage!"

"Ella, sweetie, I did not say anything like that." Nick said "Just calm down and we'll-"

"How can I calm down when all you care about is watching savage humans get abused and tormented in a circus?!" Ella asked "Just face it dad, you don't care about things like this unless it effects you!"

"Ella, no! I... Ella?!" Nick asked.

Nick realized she had hung up and guilt began to grow inside him. He was already thinking about Ella, already in tears crying somewhere and he turned to Judy saying "Judy, I got a problem that I don't think a clown for a birthday party can fix."


	5. Chapter 5

**Chapter Five**

Ella was sitting underneath a tree after running away from her friends, crying her heart out after she had found out what the circus was really about. The circus was using real feral humans in their acts and make them preform in front of spectators. But the worst part of the whole thing was that her dad didn't care about it. He didn't care about her or how the whole situation would've effected her. Ella buried her head in her knees as she let all her sadness and frustration out. Some bushes rustled to her right before Stan emerged and saw Ella before turning his head to alert the others behind him.

"Guys! I found her!" Stan shouted before he quickly walked over to her side and sat down next to her.

Jason, Isabella, Susan and Chris ran to where Stan and Ella were and saw Stan comforting Ella as he wrapped an arm around her shoulder to comfort his distressed friend.

"Ella... are you okay?" Chris asked as he stared at Ella in concern.

Ella sniffled as she raised her head to look up at her friends with her red puffy eyes.

"N-No." Ella hiccupped as tears continued to roll down her face.

"Can you tell us what's gotten you so upset?" asked Susan as she and the others gathered around their friend and sat in a circle "You just ran off after you called your dad."

Ella sniffed once again before she wiped away her tears from her face before she started to tell her friends what had happened."

"I just found out from my dad that the circus has feral humans in it." Ella said.

"WHAT!?" The group exclaimed in shock and disbelief.

"Are you sure?" Isabella asked fearfully.

"Yes," Ella replied with a nod of her head "And the horrible part about it is that my dad doesn't care about it unless it effects him."

"I'm sure that's not true." Stan said in reassurance "I mean, think about it... If he didn't care before then he would have left you in the alley after he saved you from that jackal the day you met him. Remember that?"

Ella looked at Stan for a moment before she started to think over what he had just said. If Nick didn't care about her then he would have left her in the alley and then they wouldn't have met Judy and he wouldn't have become one of the greatest police officers in Zootopia.

"You think so?" Ella asked her friends as she looked at them hopefully.

Ella's friends smiled and nodded to confirm that what Stan said was true.

"Thanks guys." Ella said "I'm really glad I have such great friends like you around."

"Hey, that's what friends do." Chris said with a smile "Through the toughest times we always help each other out no matter what."

"Even if it means getting into a tight pinch?" Susan asked with a smirk.

"Even if it means getting into a tight pinch." Chris said with a bold look on his face "There's a motto in my soccer team, 'If one teammate falls, the others are there to pick them right back up."

"That's one of the best mottos I've heard in ever." Jason said

"Yeah," Isabella said with a nod "And after what Ella told us, I think it's safe to say that I can cross off going to the circus of my Summer vacation to do list."

"I agree with you there sister," Chris said with a serious look "I'm not going to watch humans preform tricks and acts like dumb animals, even if they are feral."

"Yeah." Susan said with her arms crossed over her chest "That circus sounds dumb anyway."

"Then if we're all in agreement of not going to the circus, then let's not talk about it anymore." Stan said with a smile.

"Agreed!" the group said happily.

"And with that said, we all should probably head back home." Chris said as he looked up at the angle of the sun "It's getting late and my parents are going to get worried."

"Yeah, let's go." said Isabella as she and the others got up from the ground.

They all soon went their separate ways, all but Ella and Stan as they walked together towards their homes. Stan's home was just on the other side of the street so the two of them were neighbors. Ella was glad that she had one of her friends close to home and she was so glad to have them whenever she was depressed.

* * *

"I told you she wouldn't take kindly to a circus that has humans in it." Judy said as she and Nick sat in the lounge room "Even if they are feral, they're still humans."

"I know that now." Nick said in a sad voice as he held the sides of his head with his hands while sitting on one of the lounge chairs "I still can't believe that the animals that turned savage are still sore about what happened, even thought it's been a year."

"Nick... the incident with the Night Howlers did more damage then you think." Judy said "It had left a deep emotional scar that will never go away, no matter how many years pass by." She stood in front of Nick and gently placed her hand on his knee "Remember the emotional scar you carried ever since you were muzzled?"

Nick clenched his jaw in frustration and remembered that horrible night when he had been muzzled by those junior ranger scout brats in his childhood and started to think about what would've happened if he had take Ella to the circus to see the feral humans without telling her about them in the first place.

'She'd probably never forgive me after she saw how they were treated.' Nick thought to himself before he looked at Judy sadly.

"Judy, what am I going to do?" Nick asked his friend as he let his hands fall into his lap "Ella thinks I don't love her anymore and she probably won't speak to me ever again."

"Nick... It will take time for Ella to forgive you." Judy said gently "But she's not the type of person to hold a grudge for very long, just like a certain fox I know."

Nick smiled at his rabbit friend as he felt a little hopeful about facing Ella again when they get home.

"Thanks Judy," Nick said before he let out a sigh "So what are we going to do? We still have this circus case to figure out and I'm pretty sure that Ella wouldn't want to go anywhere near the circus no matter how hard we try to ask her."

"I think it's best that she doesn't get involve with something that might cause her a lot of emotional damage." Judy answered "She can stay home and hang out with her friends and after we solve this case we'll take her to my hometown for summer vacation. I did promise Ella that I would introduce her to my parents and my 275 brothers and sisters."

Nick chuckled as he imagined what would happen if Ella met Judy's brothers and sisters.

"She'll get buried in a giant ball of cuteness." Nick stated.

Judy playfully punched Nick in the arm as she smiled up at her friend, Finally seeing him return back to his old self.

"Now that's the Nick I know," Judy said "Now come on, we still have a lot of research to do about Kiana's ancestor."

Nick nodded before he jumped out of the chair and fallowed his partner back to their work station. Nick made a promise to himself then and there that he will never take Ella to that circus unless she was willing to go there to help him and Judy solve the case about the accidents under the big top and Kiana's ancestor's past.


	6. Chapter 6

**Chapter Six**

Since night was falling Nick and Judy decided to put this strange feral case on hold and start first thing in the morning. They drove back home and opened the door where they find Ella, already dressed in her green and yellow nightgown, watching TV with a frown on her face.

"Hey honey, Daddy's home." Nick said with a grin.

"Hey." Ella said.

Now he knew she was still sore at him. Normally she'd tackle him in a huge hug, sometimes accidently choking him due to her squeezing him too tight, but now that she wasn't Nick began to feel more guilty about what had happened and turned to Judy.

"You're on your own with this one." Judy said "This is one of those 'father and daughter' things. I'm just the roomie."

As Judy walked away Nick sighed and said "Fine, leave me with the problem while you turn in for bed. Is this how you handle the problems of others? It's a wonder why you never get invited to community centers."

The fox sighed as he tried to think of something he could say to cheer up his daughter before saying "So Ella... how was your last day in school? You must be pretty excited. You get to sleep late, yay!"

Ella ignored him and changed the channel from a royal fairytale story to a super hero action movie.

"Okay, uh... well, maybe we can talk about what we should do when we get to Bunny Burrows? Last time I was there I was in a pie fight, it was the most delicious fun I ever had in my whole life... I licked myself clean after that one." Nick said

Again Ella ignored him and changed the channel back to the fairytale special.

"Oh boy... I'm in trouble." Nick said to himself with a frown "Well... uh... How about we uh... Okay, how about we go bowling tomorrow? We haven't been bowling in a while."

Ella turned off the TV and turned to her father asking "Daddy, if I become a savage monster... would you still love me?"

At that, Nick remembered how Mr. Manchas and Mr. Otterton had turned savage and how scary they were when they first saw them turn savage... then he tried to picture Ella, his wonderful, loving and cherished little girl, acting as savage as they were... a thought that terrified him to the core.

"Ella, honey, I... I would never let anything like that happen to you." Nick said "When I adopted you, I promised to take care of you as best as I could even thought I've never taken care of a real kid before I met you. I had no idea how a human was suppose to be raised, no idea what I had to expect as I watch you grow up, no plans for anything related to collage or anything like that for you in the future, I don't even know what you want to be when you grow up... but still I didn't back down and took you under my wing... because my heart told me that you needed me... and, to be honest, I need you. Because while i'm proud to call myself a cop, I'm even prouder to call myself the father to my little angel."

Ella smiled and said "You mean it?"

"Every day of my life." Nick said "I'd say it a million times a day but then my throat would be super sore."

Ella got up, rushed up to Nick and they embraced each other in a tight hug. Their moment was interrupted when Ella's phone rang and she answered it saying "Oh look! Another text from Cody!"

"C-Cody?" Nick asked uneasily. Cody was this human boy around Ella's age who, when she first saw him, won her heart and ever since then Nick has tried everything he could to prevent them from getting together until Judy told him that he moved to a different school...At least that's what Judy told him. Guess she told him wrong to prevent him from wasting time with Ella's school.

"Yeah, I remember when I met him on the first day of school and he's been my super duper crush ever since!" Ella said with a smile and a giggle.

"Do not say that word!" Nick exclaimed uneasily as Ella ran to her bag to get her phone "I don't ever want to hear that 'C' word in my house ever again!"

"What? Crush?" Ella asked "How about future boyfriend or son in law?"

"AAGGHHH!"

* * *

In her bedroom Judy was about to fall asleep with her bedroom door burst open and she sat up and saw Nick, with a very angry look on his face as he said "I thought you said that human punk Cody moved to a different school! You little fluffy bottomed cotton tailed liar!"

"Cody? You mean Ella's boyfriend?" Judy asked

"He is not Ella's boyfriend!" Nick exclaimed angrily "No boy is good enough for my Ella. You hear me, nobody! I can handle those other guys like Chris and Stan, no problem! But Cody? He's so on my list! If he so much as steps one foot in my household, I'm kicking his sorry tail-less pink tush off my doormat in handcuffs and haling him straight to jail where I will have him sentenced for life in prison just for taking a look at my daughter!"

Judy stared at him for a moment before she said "First off, you're overprotective father threats are both cute and pretty pathetic, second Ella's twelve years old now. Sooner or later she's going to want to leave the nest and start a life all by herself."

"Not while i'm still kicking." Nick said "I'd rather have all my teeth pulled out."

Judy sighed and said "Okay, well can you at least try to get along with Cody? Who knows, maybe if you get to know him better, maybe you'll accept him."

"Like I said, I'd rather have all my teeth pulled out." Nick said

With that he stormed off into his room and flopped onto his bed. He looked at his dart board, which had Cody's picture on it, and threw several darts at it, with one of them landing smack on the picture's nose.

"Take that chump." Nick said with a smile "Just you wait, you try something and I'll catch you in the act."

With that being said Nick closed his eyes and drifted off to sleep as did Judy and Ella, wondering what tomorrow will bring for this special family.


	7. Chapter 7

**Chapter Seven**

Morning soon came to the Wilde house as Ella got up and got dressed in the same usual clothes she wore yesterday before brushing out her hair and tying it into it's usual ponytail again. She then walked out of the room wand descended down the stairs, making her way to the kitchen where she saw her dad and Judy sitting at the table eating breakfast.

"Morning Daddy, morning Judy." Ella said.

"Morning sweetheart." Nick said with a smile before he continued to eat his scrambled eggs.

"Well, looks like your back to your old self today." Judy said with a smile after she finished eating her pancakes "Did you have a good sleep last night?"

"Yep." Ella said with a nod as she got some juice from the fridge and started making herself toast "I'm going to be hanging out with my friends all day today."

"That's good." Nick said "Just make sure you and your friends don't get into any trouble while your out, alright?"

"Don't worry, I won't and I promise to phone you guys and tell you where I am." Ella said as she poured some juice into a glass before asking her dad and Judy "What will you guys be doing at work today?"

"Well, your dad and I have a big lead to follow on that circus that we have been researching on the other day." Judy replied with a serious look within her eyes.

At the word 'Circus' Ella flinched before she turned to Judy and Nick, becoming curious about what the bunny cop had said.

"What do you mean?" Ella asked.

Nick finished his scrambled eggs and looked at his daughter while placing his fork down on the plate.

"Well... we've read a report experiencing accidents time to time with rumors going around ever since the... uh, you know what humans joined the big top." Nick said, being careful not to mention the word feral in front of his daughter or she might become upset again "And at every town they go to there are human handprints found at every crime scene."

Ella became curious about what her dad had said.

"You don't think a human could be doing this, do you?" she asked as she grabbed her plate with two pieces of toast and glass juice before walking over to the table and sitting down at it.

"It's possible," Nick said "But there's also another case that we need to look at as well. About a certain circus performer and her past."

"What's her name?" Ella asked.

"Her name's Kiana." Nick said.

"And we are going to ask her something that's related to the Great Hunt many years ago." Judy said.

"What do you mean?" Ella asked fearfully.

Judy took in a deep breath before answering Ella's question "Ella... we believe that Kiana's ancestor may have helped cause the Great Hunt.

The news shocked Ella to her very core after hearing what Judy had just told her. An animal helped cause the Great Hunt that had made humans and animals fear each other all those years ago?

"Do you really think that Kiana's ancestor could have really done that horrible act?" Ella asked

"We're not really sure sweetheart," Nick said in an honest voice "That's why me and Judy are going to go to the circus ourselves and see if we can't ask Kiana that question ourselves."

"Will I have to come with you?" Ella asked fearfully.

"No." Nick replied with a shake of his head while he reached over the table and placed a comforting paw on his daughter's hand. "Not unless you want to come with us willingly, but for now you should hang out with your friends today."

Ella felt relief when she hears what her dad said, but soon asked another question that was bothering her.

"What animal was Kiana's ancestor?" Ella asked.

Nick was a little hesitant to answer but soon took in a deep breath and, in a soft, sad voice, he said "It was a fox."

Ella's eyes widen at this news before looking down at the kitchen table. A fox caused the start of the Great Hunt all those years ago? Ella felt sadden that her favorite animal was the cause of such pain between humans and animals, but she was glad that not all foxes were like Kiana's ancestor.

"Kiana's family believed that their ancestor had caused this terrible crime," Judy explained as Ella turned to look up at her "That they decided to become part of the circus so that they could hide from the shame that their ancestor had created."

"I feel sorry for Kiana," Ella said softly "I just can't believe a fox would cause such a crime that would put a rift between humans and animals."

"Ella, we're going to figure this thing out." Nick said as he gave Ella a reassuring smile. "We're going to see if it's true on what Kiana's ancestor did many years ago. So just leave it to me and Judy, while you hang out with your friends."

Ella nodded as a small smile appeared on her face. Soon the doorbell rang and Nick left the table to see who it was. When he opened he door he saw Stan standing before him with a smile.

"Hey Mr. Wilde," Stan greeted "Is Ella home?"

"Yeah, she's just finishing up her breakfast." Nick said with a smile.

Ella soon appeared from out of the kitchen and made her way towards Stan with a smile.

"Hey Stan." Ella greeted "I'll just get my shoes on and then we can head to the park."

"Alright," Stan said.

"Now you two be careful," Nick advised as Ella tied on her shoes "Make sure you stick together and don't do anything stupid."

"Don't worry Mr. Wilde." Stan said "We're just going to hang out in the park for a bit before heading over to Susan's vocal performance."

"She's really taking pride in her singing, huh?" Judy asked as she walked to the door.

"Well, it is Susan's dream to become a famous pop star like Gazelle." Stan said with a shrug of his shoulders "And she's considering Isabella to be her costume designer once the time comes."

Nick and Judy chuckled at that statement before Ella finished tying on her shoes and giving her two caretakers a hug.

"See you guys later," Ella said before she gave them each a kiss on the cheek.

"Stay safe kiddo." Nick said as he watched his daughter run down the street with Stan as they headed toward the park.

"You know, Stan has a pretty good head on his shoulders." Judy said with a smile.

"Well, his parents are great neighbors to get along with," Nick said as he looked at his friend with a smirk "I wouldn't be surprised if Stan ends up becoming part of the ZPD one day."

"Maybe," Judy said with a shrug "Come on, we better get into our uniforms and head to the ZPD.

Nick nodded his head before closing the front door behind him as he fallowed his partner back into the house.


	8. Chapter 8

**Chapter Eight**

Once Ella and Stan arrive at the park they were expecting to see their friends awaiting them and waiting so they could start Susan's musical performance... but when they got there, they were in for a surprise.

The circus had taken over the whole park and onlookers were watching the rehearsals from the gates surrounding the park as tumblers tumbled, daredevils leapt over trash cans and clowns tumbled and made a laugh in everything they did.

"Just when we thought we'd never have to see the circus." Stan said as he and the others looked at the scene in front of them.

"I see clowns, acrobats, basically everything you'd find in a regular circus." Jason said "But I wonder where are the... you know, humans with the-"

"Grrrr..."

Jason's question was answered when he heard that growling and turned to see Logan, and several other feral humans in different colored loincloth approaching them, all of them leashed by Kiana who walked by the ringmaster, who was a big brown bear, walking beside her wearing a ringmaster's uniform.

"Make way for the stars of the show!" the bear boasted as he walked past the parting animals and humans. The feral humans stalked on all fours as they were led into the park with a few of them stopping to sniff at some animals and humans before being pulled away.

Ella was stunned and shocked, just when she thought the feral thing was behind her, it shows up in front of her. Then, without thinking, she walked up towards the pair and said "Are you Kiana miss fox?"

"Yes, I am." Kiana said.

"Do you want an autograph? Or your picture taken with my feral humans?" The ringmaster asked.

"No, I want to know why you're treating them like this!" Ella said "Aren't you ashamed of yourself?"

"Nope, not one bit." The ringmaster said "Do you know why? Because when I stumbled across these feral humans in the deepest of darkest jungles, I knew they needed me so I took them in and I turned them into the biggest thing to hit the town since King Kong the musical."

"I don't care, I say you should stop it right now." Ella said "You can't treat them so... so cruelly!"

"Oh, you must've seen the last act my brother Zamir put up." The ringmaster said "I warned him there could be a mix up but did my big headed brother take my advice? Nope! So take it up on him. I'm working on something new, something amazing and something so spectacular it's guaranteed to knock 'em dead! That's theater talk."

Logan walked up to Ella and sniffed her before panting like a dog in front of her. The ringmaster yanked her collar but Ella grabbed it and broke it. The bear ringmaster gasped as Ella ran away with Logan running on all fours after her.

"Stop that brat!" The ringmaster yelled "She's stealing one of my acts!"

Ella and Logan dove into the bushes and everyone looked around but they never noticed that they had escaped with help from Jason, Isabella, Chris, Susan and Stan.

As they ran away and escaped out the back with nobody noticing Chris said "You know that we could probably get arrested for this, right?!"

"I don't care, at least we have one of those feral humans." Ella said "And we are going to make sure that she never goes back to that horrible circus ever again!"

"But what are we going to do with her?!" Susan asked "We can't just sneak her out!"

"Then we'll train her to be just like us." Ella said "We'll take her to our clubhouse and hide there no matter how long we have to!"

"Something tells me we're going to be in deep trouble for this." Jason said.

And he had no idea how right he was.

* * *

When Nick and Judy finally arrived they were shocked to find out what had happened and when Nick tried to call Ella, he realized that she had lost her phone, and what was worse was that the ringmaster had found it and held it in front of their faces as proof of the story he told them.

"That little brat of yours stole one of my acts," The ringmaster said "And I want it back before my circus is ready to preform, otherwise... things will get ugly."

"You can't blame her for this, she was very upset when she learned about the feral humans." Judy said

"Well, now i'm upset!" The ringmaster bellowed "And if anything happens to that feral, well... I might have her replaced with that little thief as punishment."

Upon hearing that Nick snarled and said "Don't you dare touch one hair on my daughter's head! I don't care how big or strong you are you overstuffed teddy bear but if you so much as look at my little girl I'll turn you into an oversized bear rug with my bare hands!"

"Tough talk, coming from someone I can easily squeeze the life out of and turn into a fox skinned scarf." The ringmaster said.

Nick was still angry as he stormed up to him but before he could threaten him again Kiana spoke up saying "I can't believe how heartless you are! You can't punish his little girl for something that you never put under the big top in the first place. I don't care what power you have over me but I won't let you push me around like you did with my parents!"

"And you remember what happened to them the last time they disobeyed me... don't you Kiana?" the bear asked.

Kiana's anger turned into sadness for a brief moment before she said "I don't care! I'll help them find those girls and you better be grateful when we do or else I will walk away, family shame or no, and never come back."

"That will be fine by me." The Ringmaster said "Now go and don't come back without those trouble makers, or you'll hear from my brother Zamir and me, Elijah Baloo!"

Kiana stormed off with Nick and Judy running after her before Judy smiled and said "Thank you for offering to help us."

"I should have done that a long time ago." Kiana said "If I had known then what I know now... I would've ran away from the circus when I was still a kid."

Nick looked at Kiana and said "He said something about your parents... what did they do that was so bad to that jerk?"

"I... I don't like to talk about it." Kiana said "But I will say this... what he did to my parents... well, let's just say I never saw them ever again after that."


	9. Chapter 9

**Chapter Nine**

Ella and her friends soon made it to their clubhouse, which was built near a small creak in a low hanging tree. Ella and her friends sat around outside the clubhouse as they watched Logan look around the place curiously as she sniffed around curiously.

"Well... now that she's here, what are we going to do?" Jason asked as he sat on medium sized boulder.

"Don't look at me," Chris said before he pointed at Ella "Ask our leader, she's the one who brought this 'Logan' here."

Ella blinked in surprise when she heard what Chris said before turning to look at him.

"Who says I'm leader?" Ella asked

"Well, you are the one reckless enough to stick you neck out to save this girl." Chris reasoned as he pointed at Logan.

"Please, let's not get into a fight right now." Stan said as he stepped in and Logan came up to him and sniffed him.

Stan looked down at Logan in surprise before gently petting her head. Logan leaned into the touch as a smile appeared on her face.

"We need to figure out what we're going to do with her," Susan said as she sat on a log "How exactly are we going to train her to walk and talk like you, Jason and Isabella, Ella?"

"The truth is... I haven't through that far ahead yet." Ella admitted with a nervous smile on her face.

"Well, either way, we need to call her something else other then Logan." Isabella said.

At the mention of her name, Logan turned to look at Isabella and tilted her head to the side as he became curious with what Isabella meant by that.

"Yeah," Chris replied before he turned to look at Logan "And no offence to you Wild Girl, but Logan is more of a boy's name then a girl's."

Logan frowned as she seemed to think over what Chris said about her name.

"Well, we'll figure out a name for her later," Ella said with a smile before she walked up to Logan "Right now we should just focus on teaching her some things that would be easy for her right now."

"Like what?" Susan asked.

"We can try teaching her how to speak first." Stan suggested.

"That sounds like a good idea," Ella said before she knelt down in front of Logan and held her left hand out towards the girl "Hi... my name is... Ella."

Logan looked at Ella's hand curiously as she gave it a sniff before raising her own right hand up to examine it. Ella's friends watched with baited breath to see what would happen between the two girls, one from civilization and one from the wild unknown. Logan slowly moved her hand forward and placed it in Ella's hand before she slowly maneuvered it around until the palms and fingers were now pressed up against one another. Ella blinked in surprise and fascination as she looked at Logan, who was starting intently at their two hands pressed together before she looked up at Ella. Logan soon opened her mouth and what she did next surprised everyone.

"L-Logan." the girl spoke in a soft voice.

* * *

Meanwhile Nick, Judy and Kiana were driving through Sahara Square as they began to look for the kids. Kiana sat in the back as she looked through the side window with a troubled look on her face. Nick, who was sitting in the passenger seat, looked over his shoulder to see Kiana and noticed her look before he talked to her.

"Hey, don't worry." Nick said with a reassuring smile "I'm sure my daughter and her friends are looking after Logan just fine."

Kiana looked at Nick as a small smile appeared on her face.

"Thanks Nick," Kiana said before her frown reappeared again "I'm just worried how Logan will react. She's never been this far away from the circus and she's always really cautious around strangers."

"Well, I wouldn't worry." Judy said from the driver's seat with a smile "When it comes down to being with those who are wild, Ella somehow finds a way to calm them down and earn their trust way faster then anyone in Zootopia."

"Yeah," Nick said with a chuckle "If it weren't for her, the animals that had turned savage a year ago wouldn't have helped us capture the true criminal behind the night howler out break."

Kiana blinked as she turned to look at the two cops in surprise when she heard what two the had just said.

"What do you mean?" She asked

Well, it was Ella's idea to use music to calm the animals that had turned savage," Nick explained as he turned to look at Kiana once again. "So she basically helped with the case that Judy here dragged me into by blackmailing me."

"Yet if I hadn't blackmailed you, then you wouldn't have ended up being one of the best officers in the ZPD." Judy said with a smirk.

"Nor would I have adopted Ella as my daughter." Nick added as he turned to look at his partner.

Kiana was surprised that Ella had helped in the nigh howler case about a year ago before she realized just who Nick and Judy were.

"You're the two cops that stopped that terrorist sheep Bellwether from taking over Zootopia!" Kiana exclaimed as her ears stood up on her head in shock.

"Yep," Nick replied with a smile "No autographs please, ma'am."

Kiana smiled when she heard what Nick said before Judy spoke up again.

"So before we get off topic here Nick, do you have any ideas on where Ella might be?" Judy asked.

Nick crossed his arms over his chest for a moment before an idea came into his head.

"Well, if I wanted to hide a feral child from public then I would take them to a place where only my friends and I would know of and that would be the clubhouse." Nick guessed.

"Of course!" Judy exclaimed as she lightly slapped her head "Ella would want to hide Logan at a place where no one but her and her friends know about, but how did you know about the clubhouse?"

"Let's just say that I helped build that clubhouse of theirs after she used that darn puppy pout on me," Nick answered with a slightly embarrassed look on his face "How can anybody resist a cute puppy pout from their kids? But when it comes down to a one track mind, then I blame you for it."

"And why is that?" Judy questioned with a raised eyebrow before she stopped at a red light.

"I let you and Ella hang out too much, that's why." Nick replied.

"Yeah, well, you and Ella hang out together too much." Judy countered.

"And how's that?" Nick asked

"She's becoming too much of a trickster when it comes down to playing pranks on people." Judy explained.

"Not to mention that she's becoming quiet the charmer," Nick added with an easy going smirk.

"Dumb Fox," Judy muttered with a roll of her eyes before she stepped on the gas when the light turned green.

"Yet you love me." Nick teased.

Judy glanced at Nick for a moment before smiling at him.

"Yes, I love you." Judy chuckled "But I also love Ella just as much as you do."

Nick acted like Judy's words wounded him, while Kiana watched in amusement at the playful banter between the bunny and fox cops. Kiana couldn't help but smile at the scene in front of her as she saw two major enemies having a close friendship with each other. Judy soon spoke again as she drove in the direction Nick gave her to where Ella and her friend's clubhouse was.

"So... Kiana," Judy said as she decided to ask Kiana a question "Nick and I have been doing a little bit of research on the circus and we were wondering if you could tell us about the rumors going around there."

Kiana was a little hesitant at first but soon decided to answer, knowing that these two might be able to help her and the circus.


	10. Chapter 10

**Chapter Ten**

Once they reached the Rainforest District Kiana explained everything to the pair, that it all began when she was ten years old. She was doing a history report for her project on families and went to the library to find out more about her family when she stumbled upon a history book about everything that had ever happened in the world and stumbled upon the Great Hunt, where she learned that her ancestor Joseph had made a deal with some humans due to how unfair Zootopia treated the predators, who back then were not in charge of the city. He made a deal with the humans so that they would eliminate all the prey animals and with every single prey animal gone the predators would rule the city. However he had been backstabbed when the humans decided to hunt both prey and predator in Zootopia.

Joseph's betrayal had left such a deep wound in the city that everyone banished him and he left, never to return. Kiana thought everyone would love it because of how her family played such an impact in history but once she did everyone hated her and her family. It had gotten so bad that they packed their bags and ran away to the circus, where they remained ever since.

"At first I thought it would be fun to live in the circus." Kiana said "Preforming in front of an audience, no school work, free popcorn and soda... but I began to realize to realize working in this circus was not as fun as I thought it would be. My parents died after they had an argument with Mr. Baloo and I had been on my own ever since, waiting for the day I could finally leave the circus and actually have a normal life."

Nick and Judy looked at each other before Judy said "Well, maybe they made a mistake in the history books. History does get updated every day and I bet that maybe your ancestor didn't have anything to do with the Great Hunt in the first place."

"I... I never thought about it." Kiana said "But if Joseph wasn't responsible for this, then who was?"

"That's what we're going to find out, after we find Ella and Logan." Judy said.

Once they arrived at the clubhouse the first thing they did was look inside where they saw Ella and her friends trying to teach Logan how to walk like a regular human but before they could enter the clubhouse, something snapped. The trio looked around to find a hooded figure cutting the ropes that secured the treehouse to the tree and Nick shouted "Hey! What do you think your doing?!"

The wolf ran off just before he could sever the last rope and Judy ran inside to get everyone out before the last ropes broke apart and the whole clubhouse collapsed into a heap of broken boards and ruined furniture and other items the kids had put in their clubhouse.

"Our clubhouse!" Ella cried in shock and horror.

"My mystery books!" Stan cried

"My favorite Soccer star posters!" Chris exclaimed in horror.

"My songs!" Susan exclaimed in horror.

"My best red dress!" Isabella cried sadly.

"My art projects!" Jason cried in horror.

"Everything is ruined!" they exclaimed in union.

Logan rushed up to Kiana and hugged her tightly while whimpering. Kiana comforted her friend and said "There there Logan, i'm here."

Nick rushed up to Ella and hugged her tightly before he said "Ella, are you alright? You're not hurt right?"

"No, but our clubhouse is ruined!" Ella said sadly "It took us a week to make it... now it's ruined."

"There there, we can make another one." Nick said before he gave Ella back her phone "By the way, you dropped this."

Ella took back her phone and said "Thanks Daddy." Just then there was a ding sound and she looked down to see a text written on it by Cody, making Ella exclaim "Oh no! I forgot my date with Cody at the graveyard!"

"Date? DATE?! You never said anything about a date with that kid!" Nick exclaimed angrily.

"I was going to... but I forgot when Logan and the circus came to the park and..." Ella trailed off when she noticed how angry Nick was becoming.

Before Nick could respond Judy came back with a stick that held a model of a human handprint and said "Look at this! It looks like someone's trying to frame humans for this accident! And get this, this thing comes from the circus!"

"So someone from the circus is causing these accidents on purpose?" Kiana asked "Why?"

"That's what we are going to find out." Judy said "Let's split up. I'll take Isabella and Susan to the circus to question the ringmaster while Kiana goes to the library with Chris and Jason to find out more about the Great Hunt and see if she missed something."

"And me and Stan will look after Logan, and keep Ella company on her date." Nick said before she turned to Ella saying "You asked for it kid, just don't think about going for a kiss and you won't get grounded until your an old maid... or I turn that jerk into a human skinned rug, one or the other."

Ella blushed bright red as the group went their separate ways; two for the case, and one that she was forced to take along and the worst part was that this group had her father. Ella had no idea how she was going to explain this to Cody once she arrived for their date.

"I don't suppose we can forget about the date and just stay here to teach Logan how to be a real human right?" Ella asked

"Don't try to worm your way out of this one young lady." Nick said "It's bad enough your date likes graveyards. But just to let you know, if he so much as tries to pull a fast one, I'm going to burry him alive, make him a headstone saying 'Here's what happened to the last dope who tried to date my daughter' and dance on his grave."

Ella blushed redder as she sighed and said "This is going to be a long day."


	11. Chapter 11

**Chapter Eleven**

Kiana, Chris and Jason caught a taxi and made their way downtown to Zootopia's public library to see if they could find any information on 'The Great Hunt' and Kiana's ancestor. Luckily when they got there they noticed that there weren't too many humans and animals around so the trio was able to have some space to themselves so they wouldn't be disturbed while also making sure to keep their voices low in the library. Jason was looking up the history of the Great Hunt and all animals connected to it on the computer as Chris and Kiana looked though books on the shelves with Chris standing on a tall ladder to look at the books from the highest shelves while Kiana looked through the bottom of the shelves for any information about the hunt.

"How are you doing Chris?" Kiana asked

"So far nothing about the great hunt," Chris said as he read book cover after book cover "But I found other books called 'The Ancient Times Before Zootopia', 'How Prey Evolved Before Predators', 'The Ancient Techniques of Predators', 'What came first, the Chicken or the Egg?'... Uh, what?" Chris stopped at that last book and frowned upon realizing it was about 'The Questions of Life' before he asked "What's this book doing here in the history section?"

"Maybe one of the librarians mixed it up with the others by accident when someone returned it." Kiana said with a soft giggle.

Chris put back the book and sighed as he looked down at the adult vixen and said "Yeah, well, this isn't exactly what I wanted to do during summer vacation. I was hoping to simply kick back and relax with my friends, work on a few soccer moves or something. But I'm not, instead I'm stuck here in the Zootopia Public Library and doing research on this Great Hunt thing that happened a long time ago after some animal decided to total our clubhouse. And I still can't believe that someone is blaming those accidents on humans."

"Yeah, I know." Kiana said sadly "I mean, I know I work with wild humans but they would never ever do anything hurtful or destructive. And why are they targeting the circus? I just don't understand."

"Well, we're going to find out about it, why they're doing it and put a stop to it." Jason said as he turned away from the computer to look at the vixen and his wolf friend "Hopefully we'll find a clue to all of this by researching the 'Great Hunt' and the connection your ancestor has in that part of history."

"Yeah, let's just hope that Judy and the girls are having better luck then we are." Chris said as he began to search through the books again "Cause finding any clue to this whole mystery is like trying to find a needle in a haystack. Not like it's going to pop up when we at least expect it, right?"

Once those words left his mouth Chris leaned to far over the side of the ladder to grab a book that caught his interest before he lost his footing and ended up falling down to the ground with a bunch of books fallowing in his wake. Luckily Chis wasn't too far off the ground so the landing wasn't that painful but he found himself being buried underneath a mountain of books. Jason and Kiana gasped and quickly ran over to the pile of books and dug through them. They kept digging through them for a while before the middle of the pile moved and the pair stepped back before Chris popped out of the pile of books with a gasp before letting out a sigh of relief, freeing his arms from the books that surrounded him in the progress.

"You okay?" Jason asked.

"Other then being turned into a pancake for bookworms, I'm good." Chris said with a reassuring smile "I'm just lucky I didn't break anything."

"That's good." Kiana said with a sigh before something caught her eye.

Lying on the floor as a large green book with gold letters that said 'History of the Great Hunt'. Kiana quickly grabbed it and started to look through the introduction of the book before smiling.

"Boys I think we just found our book." she said as she showed the two boys the book.

"Alright!" Jason said cheerfully.

"Yeah, that's great and all but would you mind helping me out first?" Chris asked wit a pleading look.

Kiana and Jason quickly helped Chris out of the pile of books before they began to look for a quiet place in the library where no one would disturb them as they started their research.

* * *

Meanwhile Judy, Susan and Isabella had taken the police car and drove all the way back to the big top in hopes of getting information from the Ringmaster Baloo. After parking the car in the parking lot next to the tent, Judy, Susan and Isabella made their way towards the circus and walked into the big top, while bringing the evidence that they had found at the clubhouse. They saw some of the performers rehearsing for the show that they will perform for the people tomorrow. Ringmaster Baloo was standing in the middle of the ring as he kept an eye on his performers while they all worked as hard as they could to make their performances perfect in front of their leader.

"Make sure that you all don't mess up when we preform in front of the people of Zootopia tomorrow!" Ringmaster Baloo shouted to all his performers.

"Excuse me, sir!" Judy called as she walked over to the bear ringmaster with Susan and Isabella walking behind her.

Ringmaster Baloo looked to see Judy before he began to speak in a snooty voice "Well, it if isn't the police rabbit, where's your partner, my performer and that thief with my missing feral human?"

"Nick and Kiana are still looking for her," Judy lied so he wouldn't suspect a thing "We decided to split up and see if we couldn't find them but so far all I've found are Ella's friends. I'm sure Nick and Kiana will find them as soon as possible, but I found something else while I was on the search and I believe that this might belong to your circus."

She held up the stick with the model hand to show to the ringmaster, who stared at the stick for a moment before looking at Judy with an uninterested look on his face as he asked "What about it?"

"I did some research on your circus and read all about the accidents, along with the rumors going around." Judy replied as she tapped the stick on the bear's snout lightly, showing him a closer look at the handprint "I believe that someone inside your circus is causing the accidents on purpose and trying to put the blame on humans so as to-"

"I'm not interested in accidents or rumors," Ringmaster Baloo said angrily, interrupting the bunny cop "All I care about is getting that feral human kid from that other human kid who stole her from me. So until you find her I will not be interested in answering any of your questions."

And with an upturned nose, the bear ringmaster walked away from Judy and disappeared into the back of the tent. Judy frowned as she glared after the ringmaster.

"Just what got into that guy's fur?" Susan asked as she looked over at her human friend.

"That was rude!" Isabella cried angrily "He should learn some manners. Honestly, doesn't he know how to speak to ladies?"

"I wouldn't take it to hard Sheila," said an Australian accented voice to their right.

The trio turned to see a dingo with brown eyes wearing a black shirt and blue jeans standing before them.

"Old hot head Mr. Baloo is just stressed about everything that's been going on around 'ere lately," the dingo said before he introduced himself "The name's David and I've heard that you're investigating our circus because of them rumors, right?"

"Yes," Judy replied as she walked up to him "Can you tell us about what's been going on here?"

David nodded before leading the trio someplace privet where they could talk.


	12. Chapter 12

**Chapter Twelve**

Ella didn't know which was more embarrassing; her father coming with her on her date with Cody or Logan barking at anyone who came near them. Her face was still red as she walked past the cemetery gates and up a cobblestone path, passing headstones of those who had died in Zootopia long ago. She turned her head to see her father frowning and knew she had to think of something so she said "Uh Dad... isn't this the same cemetery your mom, I mean, grandma was buried in?"

"Don't even think of changing the subject." Nick said "And don't think that I won't be there if this guy tries anything funny."

"At least give us five minutes of alone time together." Ella said "Please!"

"The only five minutes I'll give is that punk five minutes to call of the date or he'll be in for one big smack in the nose!"

Ella blushed harder and Stan knew he had to do something so he walked a little closer to Nick and said "Hey Mr. Wilde, how good are you at climbing?"

"What? Why?" Nick asked

"Tackle him Logan!" Stan commanded Logan like a human with his pet dog.

Logan lunged at Nick and the startled fox ran up the nearest tree he could find to avoid being tackled by the feral girl and hung on to a branch before he shouted "Not funny! You are so in big trouble for this!"

"Sorry Mr. Wilde!" Stan said, trying to hold in his giggling before he fell over laughing.

Ella saw her chance and ran off with a smile. Nick noticed and shouted "Hey! Get back here young lady! I forbid you from going on a date here or anywhere with anyone! If you don't come back by the time I count to ten you're grounded for life! ELLA!"

Ella continued down her way to her date until she came across a bear statue and saw Cody next to it, wearing his gothic black coat and black boots and other gothic things, including a raven tattoo from his neck to his left cheek.

"You made it, I was beginning to worry that I'd have to entertain the spirits alone." Cody said

"Sorry about that, I... kind of had a detour here and there." Ella said with a giggle "But at least I made it."

"Now let's see if we can find a wandering ghoul or something wandering around the tomb stones." Cody said

Back with Nick he was still angry at Stan and Logan for doing this to him and knew he had to think of something before he grabbed a branch, ripped it off and tossed it as he shouted "Go Fetch!"

Stan, being a dog himself, ran after the stick as did Logan who grabbed it and tried to wrestle it out of Stan's mouth. Nick snickered as he climbed down and ran off saying "What is it with dogs and sticks?"

However before he could go any further he bumped into someone. That someone was a grey wolf wearing black sunglasses in front of his eyes, held a long thin wooden staff in his paws and wore a purple shirt and green jeans. It was a wolf know as Owen Road.

Nick knew him very well. He once worked for the ZPD until that tragic accident involving chasing a criminal though a lake rendered him blind for life. He still managed to capture the bad guy but he could no longer see anything ever again. Despite this he remained a very kind and humble wolf with a good heart and a few jokes to spare to make anyone laugh whenever he came across anyone who was sad. He was also a skilled fighter who practiced meditation whenever he was off work and did his best to keep himself and his spirit of justice alive. The thing was, Nick thought he had moved away a year ago, why would he be hanging around here?

"Sorry about that Mr. Road." Nick said as he helped the wolf up.

"Is that you Nick Wilde, sly con artist extraordinaire?" Owen asked as his ears perked up upon hearing that familiar voice.

"It's Officer Nick Wilde of the ZPD now." Nick said with a smile.

"I thought I recognized the scent of doughnuts, burgers and coffee somewhere." Owen said with a smile "For a moment I thought some lovebirds were having a picnic here!"

At that Nick remembered Ella and said "I gotta go, I've got to stop my daughter from making out with some jerk!"

And with that Nick ran off, leaving Owen confused for a moment before Stan and Logan arrive and when they saw the wolf Stan dropped the stick and said "What did we miss?"

Nick ran as fast as he could before he skidded to a halt upon seeing Cody holding up a pocket knife with next to Ella. Both fear and overprotectiveness took over his mind as he jumped forward and shouted "Keep your hands off of my daughter!"

SLASH!

Nick had tackled Cody to the ground and was about to slap the cuffs on him when he heard a soft thud and gasped. Ella's long braid lay sprawled across the grass and he looked up at Ella, who stood there in horror as she grabbed the hair on her head, now so short it didn't even cover her neck.

Then she got angry and snapped "Look at what you've done! You ruined my hair!"

"I was trying to safe your life!" Nick snapped back "That jerk was going to kill you!"

"He wasn't going to kill me, he was going to carve our names into a tree!" Ella replied as she pointed to the tree.

"How do you know that? Maybe he just said that before he plans to hide your body somewhere!" Nick shouted.

"What is wrong with you!?" Ella asked "Why are you trying to ruin my life!"

"I'm not, i'm protecting it, like any father does! You should be thanking me!" Nick replied.

"You're treating me like a baby!" Ella cried "I'm not the little girl I was before, i'm growing up! You have to accept that!"

"Ella, don't you dare raise your voice to me like that!" Nick snapped angrily "Or you'll be grounded for life!"

"I... I... you know what?" Ella asked "I don't care, I don't ever want to see you again!"

"What are you talking about?" Nick asked

"I want you out of my life, that's what I want!" Ella said "Out of my life for good! I don't care what happens to you! I am leaving and you can't stop me!"

Nick was hurt and angry before he yelled "Well then go ahead! Run away for all I care, I don't care at all about any ungrateful brat who just pushes me away when I try to help her, I hate being a dad, I hate kids and, most of all, I HATE YOU!"

BANG!

Ella screamed as a dart shot her in the neck, causing her to fall to the ground with a thud.

"Ella!" Nick gasped in horror.

Cody ran for his life while Nick ran towards Ella and yanked the dart out of her neck before he held her close, tears of regret and sadness formed in his eyes as he cried "Ella! Oh Ella, no, this can't be happening! I... I..." he began to sob as tears dripped down his face and fell onto Ella's face as she remained deathly still in his arms "I take it back... I take all of it back! I... I don't hate you! I never ever hated you! I fell in love with you the first time we met and I knew... you needed me the moment I saved you... I didn't mean to yell or say those horrible things... I was just... scared. Scared of losing the only daughter I have... And so soon... I... I never got to... to tell you... how... how much I love you!"

He sobbed and rubbed his face across Ella's own face as he choked on a sob and said "I love being a dad... I love all kids, and... most of all... I love you Ella, I love you... my beautiful little girl... my angel. Please don't go away... please come back... I need you... my angel..."

As he continued to cry he thought he was imagining when he felt Ella moving until he looked at her face and realized that her eyes were opening. He smiled and hugged her tight, sobbing along the way as he cried and said "Oh Ella! It's a miracle! You're alive! My baby's alive and..."

"Grrr..."

"What?" Nick asked as he looked back at Ella, realizing something was wrong.

Suddenly Ella tore out of his grasp and snarled, standing on all fours and snarling like a savage beast. Nick was shocked and looked to his side to see the same wolf as before, now holding a dart gun, run away once more while Nick was left alone to face, much to his horror, the feral child that once was his daughter.

"Ella... no." Nick whispered.

Nick tried to deny it but it was true, Ella had become a feral.


	13. Chapter 13

**Chapter Thirteen**

Nick could only stare in horror as his once sweet daughter had turned into a ferocious feral human as she glared at him with eyes that held no other emotions except for anger and the undesirable lust to tear him to shreds.

"Oh Ella..." Nick said in a small voice

The girl only snarled before she sprang forward to pounce on Nick. The fox officer froze as his daughter flew straight at him, but then Ella was suddenly tackled to the ground when Logan suddenly appeared from out of nowhere. The two feral girls began to bite and snarl at each other as they fought to show their dominance.

"Logan!" Nick shouted in surprise before he turned to see Owen and Stan running towards him with Stan leading Owen by the hand.

"Mr. Wilde! Stan exclaimed as he let go of the blind wolf's hand and raced over to Nick's side "Are you alright?"

"Yeah," Nick replied as he stood up with Stan's help "How did you guys know where to find me?"

"Logan took off like a shot when she suddenly sensed something," Stan explained before he turned to look at where Logan was before his face turned into Horror "Mr. Wilde... I... Is that..."

"Yeah," Nick replied sadly as they watched the two girls fight "Ella turned feral after she was hit by a dart."

"What?!" Stan exclaimed in confusion.

"I'll explain it later," Nick said as he continued to watch the girls before him "Right now we have to stop those two before they get seriously hurt."

"And how exactly are you going to do that?" Owen asked as he turned his head to where he was hearing the sounds of the girls' fight were coming from "If either of you get in between them they'll tear you apart!"

"I think I know a way." Nick said as he reached for his tranquilizer "I just wish it didn't have to come down to this."

Stan watched helplessly as the two girls fought while Nick loaded his gun before aiming it towards the two girls. Stan saw what he was going to do before shouting "Logan, heel!"

Logan, quickly obeying the command, quickly jumped to the side just missing being scratched by Ella. Nick swallowed as he kept his hand steady on his gun. He really didn't want to do this to his baby, but he had no choice.

"I'm sorry baby." Nick said before he fired his gun.

BANG

Ella let out a yelp when she felt the dart stab her in the arm and stood stunned for a second before falling to the ground, unconscious. The group was quiet for a second before Nick and Stan ran over to Ella with Nick dropping to the ground and cradling Ella in his arms. Tears dripped down the fox's face as he cried for his baby girl. Stan just stood there helplessly watching as Logan slowly walked towards the two males with a look of concern on her face. Owen slowly walked up to the group with a look of sadness on his face as he stood quietly watching. The whole graveyard was silent as the group huddled around the unconscious form of Ella.

* * *

Back at the circus Judy, Susan, Isabella and David were sitting at a picnic table in the park as Judy asked him questions about the rumors that have been going around in the circus.

"When did these accidents and rumors start?" Judy asked as she held her notepad and carrot pen at the ready to write down what the dingo had to say to her.

David sighed as he ran his paw through the fur on his head and down his neck before answering Judy's questions.

"The accidents started when Mr. Baloo 'found' those feral humans way before I joined the circus." David said as he leaned forward on the table "I became part of the circus band and the leading band member. I also became friends with a few of the performers, especially with Kiana. She was my first real friend under the big top and she proved to be far more then what her kind was known for. She had taken the job of feral tamer because of how close she had become with the humans children that wouldn't let anyone near them. She had a talent for calming those kids down, it was like she was their mother, or big sister or somethin'. Life was great at the circus until the accidents started to happen. At first it was nothin' but small incidents that left folks with a few scratches but then they got more and more serious, we even had a fire in our tent!"

"A fire?" Susan asked with a frown.

"Yeah," David said "Nobody knows how it started but it started shortly after Kiana's parents had their argument with Mr. Baloo."

"What was the argument about?" Judy asked

"Don't know, I wasn't around." David replied honestly "But it sure did leave him mad. The fire started halfway in our performance where Kiana was preforming with her feral friends. We never even saw it comin', it just popped up from out of no where. Everybody ran faster then a heard of stampeding bulls but Logan was trapped and couldn't get out because she was scared. Poor little thing was only ten and a half at the time and she was really scared. But Kiana's father came to the rescue, he ran through the blaze like it was nothin' and freed Logan from the corner she was trapped in by splashing a bucket of water on that burning ladder and handed her over to his daughter before rushing back into the tent to save his wife... but the tent collapsed right on top of them. Kiana was broken hearted and all of us thought that she would become too depressed to do anything. But boy were we wrong. She continued to work and kept on caring for the ferals and preforming, putting on that cheery smile for everyone... but I get the feeling that deep down she's hurtin' more then what she let's on."

Judy stared at the dingo in shock and sadness at the story she had just heard. Isabella had a few tears running down her face while Susan comforted her by giving her a tissue before using a tissue herself for her own tears. Poor Kiana, having to lose her family in such a way was the saddest story they had ever heard in their whole life. Judy gathered herself together before she continued questioning the Dingo

"Is there anything you can tell us about Joseph, Kiana's ancestor?" Judy asked

"Not much to offer on that," David said "Kiana and 'er parents never talked about him much, since on account of the shame he brought. Can't blame them for it thought, if I was ashamed of my ancestor I'd do the exact same thing they did."

Judy was about to ask another question when her phone suddenly started to ring. Judy quickly answered it after putting away her notebook and pen.

"Officer Judy Hopps speaking." She said.

"Hopps, get back to the ZPD at once," Chief Bogo said on the other end of the line "It's Ella, something strange and horrible happened to her after Wilde brought her in."

Fear grew in Judy's chest before she turned off her phone and rushed Susan and Isabella to the car to see what was wrong... and she had a bad feeling that she wasn't going to like it when she did.


	14. Chapter 14

**Chapter Fourteen**

When Judy, Isabella and Susan arrived at the ZPD the first thing they noticed was a group gathered around one of the cages the ZPD would keep criminals inside until they were taken to jail. Judy and the others pushed the other spectators aside until they reached the front of the group and gasped at what they saw.

Inside the cage was Ella, but now she was behaving like a feral as she snarled, growled and walked on all fours on her hands and knees like Logan and the other ferals at the circus. Judy was horrified by this and so were Susan and Isabella who stood there in shock and horror at the state of their friend.

"What happened to her?" Isabella asked.

"Someone turned her into a feral!" a rhino said, answering the human's question "That's so awesome! I can't wait to see the ferals at the circus!"

Judy got angry and said "Awesome? My friend's daughter has been turned into a feral, possibly for the rest of her entire life, and you think it's awesome!? I can't believe it!"

She stormed off and grumbled under her breath while Susan and Isabella walked off, but not before they caught up with Kiana, Chris, Stan, Logan and Jason.

"I can't believe it." Chris said "I can't believe it... I saw it with my own eyes but I still don't believe it."

"Ella's become a feral... How did that happen? I mean I know because Mr. Wilde told us but... you know what I mean."

"Speaking of Nick, where is he?" Judy asked

"He's alone in the bullpen, probably drowning in a puddle of his own tears." Jason said.

Without another word, Judy ran over to the bullpen and, just like what Jason said, she found Nick sitting at their chair, well, more like huddling himself and crying a little. Judy approached him easily before she jumped up and sat next to him saying "Nick? Are you alright?"

"No, my daughter's gone savage, how do you think I feel?" Nick asked "But that's not the worse part of it."

"What do you mean?" Judy asked

"I followed Ella to her date and then we got into a fight and then I... well, she hurt my feelings and I was so mad that I told her... I hated her." Nick explained "Then the wolf who destroyed the clubhouse shot her and the next thing I know she's barking an snarling like a... like a... I can't even say it."

Judy patted his shoulder and said "Nick... i'm sure whatever happened wasn't your fault."

"It is!" Nick replied "Because of me my daughter's lock behind bars and... it's the Night Howler thing all over again... but worse... Oh Judy, now I know how it feels... why did it have to happen like this?"

"Don't worry Nick, if we can cure animals from Night Howler Sickness, we can cure Ella from whatever happened to her." Judy said

"But we don't know what's wrong with her." Nick said

"I do." a familiar voice said

Judy and Nick yelped at the voice, nearly causing them to tilt and fall over when they looked over to see David approaching as he said "I know what's going on and what the circus ringmaster is really doing."

"What are you talking about?" Judy said

"Well miss officer, I'm terribly sorry." David said "But you see I lied when we last talked. I know what the fight was really about... it was about turning civilized humans into ferals for our show."

"What?!" Nick and Judy gasped in shock.

"You see, we were all in this terrible scheme the ringmaster and his brother cooked up." David said "They plan to start the great hunt all over again but this time with wild savage humans hunting animals. Ever since he heard about Zootopia's Night Howler sickness, he perfected the same sickness on humans, turned them into wild savages and forced them to preform in the circus. Kiana didn't want to, but they forced her like they forced me to keep quiet when I found out about their plans."

Nick became angry and said "Oh yeah? How did he keep you and Kiana quiet you big fat circus faker!?"

"With these." David said as he dug his hand into his pocket and pulled out a collar, a collar with electric sparks that sparked the moment Nick nudged it "It's an electric collar, every single animal in the circus has one. The clowns, the musicians, the acrobats... even Kiana has one. All but the ringmaster and his brother. They make us wear these collars under our clothes to hide them and they use them on us whenever we try to break routine and try to run away from the circus. I managed to break mine and escape without anyone noticing... Now I've come because I need your help saving the others."

"Why should we believe you?" Nick asked with a snarl.

"Because those bears plan to kill everyone in the circus and frame the feral humans for it, everyone will die... even Kiana, and I don't want her to die any more then you, but we have to work together to stop him. We can put an end to the madness before it begins but it'll take everyone's help to defeat those bears and save everyone. I can help bring back Ella, but we need a very clever plan."

Nick stared at him with a frown for a moment before a smile curled up his lips and said "Then why don't we use their plan against them? We can turn the tables and those dum dums will never see it coming."

"Will it work?" David asked.

"Hey, if we can outsmart Bellwether, we can outsmart those bullies." Judy said before she whipped out her phone and said "I'll just call in a few recruits and we'll have our own circus troop up and ready. After all, what better way to get around a circus then becoming part of the show?"

David was so happy he hugged Nick and Judy tightly, which made them gasp for air as he said "Oh thank you mates! How can I ever repay you?!"

"You can let us breathe for one!" Nick gasped.

"Oh, sorry!" David said as he put them down and the pair gasped for air "Sorry about that, I used to lift weights for show but I retired from it."

"Gee, I wonder why?" Nick asked sarcastically.


	15. Chapter 15

**Chapter Fifteen**

Nick walked around the ZPD to find Kiana after he had asked the children to meet him and Judy in the lounge to discuss a plan of action on how to take down the bears at the circus. Nick soon found Kiana sitting on the steps outside with Logan by her side and a depressed look on her face. Nick took a deep breath before he slowly walked up to the two and took a seat beside Kiana. For a moment they were silent before Nick began to talk to the vixen.

"David told us everything about why you couldn't tell us the truth about what was really going on under the big top your boss runs." Nick said as he looked over at Kiana.

Kiana tightened her paws into fists as a tear dripped down her face while Logan gently nuzzled her shoulder in comfort.

"I'm so sorry Nick," Kiana said as she turned to look at him "I know what the ringmaster and his brother are doing is wrong, but i'm just so afraid of getting hurt by..."

"The shock collars." Nick finished with a nod of sympathy before looking forward "That guy seriously has a mental issue if keeping you guys prisoner with those collars will stop you from doing anything, not to mention stealing children and turning them savage thanks to some hired gun. What really gets under my fur is that those jerks are trying to start the great hunt all over again even after it ended over a thousand years ago."

Kiana only nodded before turning her gaze down to the ground as tears continued to roll down her face, but she was suddenly taken by surprise when she felt Nick place his paw on her shoulder. She looked up at him and saw determination in the fox's features.

"Kiana, I promise that my friends and I will help free you, your friends and the feral children by putting Mr. Baloo and his brother in jail where they belong." Nick said in a soft but strong voice to show that he was serious "But we can't do it without you and David's help."

Kiana stared at Nick for a moment before she quickly wiped her tears away and looked at Nick with determination as she said "I'll try and help out as much as I can."

Nick nodded in response before a smirk appeared on his face before he said "And after we arrest Mr. Baloo, you can have the first whack at him."

Kiana blinked in surprise before she let out a laugh at Nick's teasing with Logan cocking her head to the side in amusement. She then gave Nick a kiss on his cheek, making him blush bright red and wrap his arms around her in a comforting hug that lasted for a few moment before they walked back into the ZPD with Logan by their side. Later they met up with Judy and the kids before they began to talk about their plan.

"How exactly are we suppose to capture this guy?" Jason asked with his arms across his chest.

"Jason's right, we can't just walk up to the guy and demand him to tell us the whole truth." Chris said with a frown.

"We don't," Judy replied with a smirk "Nick and I have a plan, but we need to find a way into the circus without Mr. Baloo suspecting a thing. So we're thinking that we disguise ourselves as circus performers and cause a little destruction of our own under the big top."

"Becoming circus performers and facing a dangerous bad guy to collect enough evidence to put him behind bars? Awesome! Count us in!" Chris exclaimed in excitement.

"Now hold on there kid," Nick said, stepping in with a serious look "This is going to be dangerous for you and the others so you have to stay behind and look after Ella."

"No way," Jason said stubbornly "Ella's our best friend and we're not going to stand by and twiddle our thumbs and wait for you guys to come back from your mission."

"He's right." Susan said as she stepped forward along with Isabella nodding her head "Besides we might be able to help in our own small way."

Nick and Judy frowned as they looked at the kids and then at each other before they turned back to the kids with smiles on their faces as Judy said "Alright, you can come but you have to do exactly what we say, got it?"

The kids nodded before Nick turned to Stan saying "Stan, you have to stay here and keep an eye on Ella, you're one of her closest friends and I trust you to keep her safe."

"You got it sir!" Stan said as he did a salute.

Nick smiled before he remembered the wolf who shot Ella, the same wolf who had destroyed the clubhouse and tried to frame humans for the damage and turned to David with a question "Hey David, are there any wolves in the circus?"

"No," David said "But I have seen one talking to Mr. Baloo a few days ago talking about turning humans feral."

"What's the wolf's name?" Nick asked

David was about to tell him out loud but Nick motioned to whisper in his ear and the dingo obeyed, whispering the name of the wolf into the fox's ear. Nick's eyes widen in shock after he learned about the wolf's name and became angry as he nodded in thanks to the dingo. He knew that wolf all too well and boy was that oversized hound dog in big trouble for what that brute did to his beloved little Ella.

Before he could tell Judy, the lounge doors burst open and everyone turned to see Clawhauser standing at the door with a panicked look on his face. "Guys! We got a problem!" he cried.

"Clawhauser, what's the problem?" Judy asked

The oversized cheetah panted for a moment before he answered Judy's question "It's Ella... she... and they... two police officers are trying to muzzle her!"

As soon as he heard that, Nick quickly bolted out of the lounge to the jail cells with others following him. Under a minute, Nick made it to the cell where his daughter was being held in and what he saw made him feel fear and rage all over his body. A rhino officer, the same one who was talking about seeing feral humans in the circus, and a hippo officer were trying to hold down Ella as they attached a human shaped muzzle around her face. Ella thrashed and snarled as she tried to escape their grip with fear flashing through her eyes.

"WHAT DO YOU THINK YOUR DOING!?" Nick yelled in anger.

His sudden loud voice startled the two officers and Ella escaped by wriggling out of their grip and hurried to the corner of the cell before she began to paw and thrash around while she tried to get the muzzle off. Judy, Kiana, David, Logan and the kids arrived with Chief Bogo after he had heard what was going on. Once he saw what was going on he glared angrily at the rhino and hippo officers before motioning them out of the cell.

"Meet me in my officer later, after we've sorted this out!" Chief Bogo growled.

The officers nodded and quickly ran out of the cell with their chief behind them to lead them out himself. The group watched helplessly as Ella thrashed around like a fish out of water as she desperately tried to get the muzzle off her face.

"We have to calm her down or else she'll hurt herself!" Judy exclaimed in a worried voice.

"But if we go near her, she'll just lash out on us!" Jason reasoned in fear.

"Let me try," Kiana said as she stepped forward "I've been taming Logan and the other ferals my whole life. I think I might be able to calm her down.

"Just be careful Kiana." David said with caution.

Kiana nodded before motioning Logan to stay where she was before she made her way towards Ella slowly. Ella sensed someone coming towards her and turned her gaze at Kiana, while letting out a snarl.

"Shush... it's okay." Kiana said in a soft voice "I'm not going to hurt you."

Ella only continued to snarl as she watched the vixen walked closer towards her.

"I just want to help you." Kiana said as she walked a little close to the feral human "Just let me get that muzzle off of you and-"

Kiana was quickly cut off when Ella suddenly backhanded the vixen and sent her flying towards the other end of the cell. The others gasped in shock at what they had witnessed while Logan let out a whimper in worry. Nick stared in complete shock before a frown came over his face. He then decided to do what he had to do, even thought he would regret it later on. Kiana groaned as she sat up before she became frozen with fear as Ella stalked towards her with an angry snarl. But before the feral could get any closer Nick suddenly jumped in front of her as he stood on all fours and let out a snarl of his own. The others were a little surprised by this as Nick glared down his own daughter. Ella let out a snarl to intimidate Nick, but the fox let out a louder snarl that made Ella flinch in fear before Nick quickly tackled her to the ground.

"Nick!" Judy shouted out of fear.

Ella was about to thrash around when she suddenly felt a sharp pain in her left ear. Ella yelped in surprise and pain before looking up at Nick, who stood over her on all fours and glared. Ella tried to thrash around again but was met with the same result. Soon Ella was still, frozen with fear as Nick let out a warning growl above her. He turned his head to face Kiana and motioned for her to help take off the muzzle while he held Ella down. Kiana quickly got over her shock and made her way to the pair with fast but cautious steps. Ella was about to let out a snarl but Nick once again let out a warning growl at his daughter and she quickly froze. Kiana knelt down and began to unfasten the muzzle around Ella's head. After the muzzle was taken off, Ella continued to stay motionless out of fear of suddenly being helpless at the paws of an animal that was a complete stranger to her. She was then taken by surprise when Nick began to gently licked the ear he had nipped at to make her stay still. She glanced up at the fox in confusion after he finished licking her ear and saw him looking down on her with gentle, comforting eyes.

"I'm really sorry kiddo." he told her in a gentle voice "But I had to keep you still so that we could get that muzzle off you. And don't worry... nobody else is going to try to put that muzzle on you ever again."

Ella let out a small whimper before Nick gently and lovingly nuzzled her to show his daughter his affection to her and whispered into her ear "I promise that we'll get you back to normal Ella. Just be a good girl in the meantime sweetie... I love you." he kissed her forehead tenderly before he got off her and walked out of the cell on two legs along with Kiana before closing the door behind him.

Ella watched silently as Nick and the group walked away as she began to remember something that was buried deep in her mind. A feeling that she knew who that fox was was but couldn't quite grasp it... yet.


	16. Chapter 16

**Chapter Sixteen**

While David and Kiana took the kids to the circus for their costumes, Nick and Judy went to the local fishing lakes to find the wolf who had been hired by Mr. Baloo to turn children feral. Soon they found the grey wolf relaxing in a chair with a fishing pole in his arms and his truck nearby.

"Excuse me Mr. Noland Savage, but we need to have a word with you." Judy said

"How about we talk later, your voice might scare off the fish." The wolf said.

"But Noland, this is important." Judy said.

"So is fishing for your next dinner, now hush." Noland said.

Suddenly Nick tackled him and began to throw rapid punches and jabs at the wolf, startling and scaring the beast as he yelped and screamed and cried "GET HIM OFF ME! HE'S CRAZY!"

"I'll give you crazy you big butt headed lobo!" Nick snarled before Judy tackled him and held him down as best as she could.

"Let me at him Judy!" Nick snarled "Let me at him!"

"Nick, calm down!" Judy said "Just stop it!"

"No! I won't! He turned my baby into a feral and I won't stop until I've skinned him alive!" Nick yelled.

As they argued, Noland saw his chance to escape so he hopped into his car and drove away. By the time Nick and Judy realized what had happened it was too late. Nick was so angry he thrashed everything he could get his paws on in sheer anger before Judy shouted "Stop Nick, you might destroy clues or evidence!"

Nick refused to listen and he continued to destroy anything he could get his hands on in sheer anger before Judy tried to stop him, but Nick accidently struck her and she hit her head on some rocks before falling limp onto the ground. Once Nick saw her lifeless form sprawled across the ground his anger turned into horror and worry. He scooped her up in his arms and held her close as tears of regret and shame formed in his eyes. He couldn't believe it, he had never gotten so angry like that before and he had never hurt anyone like this before... but he just did and he harmed Judy by accident.

"Judy... Oh Judy... i'm so very sorry." Nick whispered softly "I'm sorry."

He carried her back to the car and tended to her head before he decided to head back to the ZPD. He made sure Judy was secure before driving off, of course it was a little rusty since he hadn't been driving for a while but he managed to get the hang of it in no time.

* * *

Meanwhile back in the ZPD Chief Bogo was in his office talking to the Rhino and Hippo officers who had tried to handle Ella by muzzling her but not only did it make her even more upset, they did it without notifying their boss of this drastic choice of action.

"What you two did was completely unnecessary, foolish and beyond unforgivable." Chief Bogo told them "Next time you two wait for my orders before you muzzle someone!"

"But chief, she tried to bite my arm when I went to give her some water and some bread! Twice, I might add!"

"Seriously, bread and water? What is this the Dark Ages?" Chief Bogo asked.

Suddenly there was a knock on the door and the cape buffalo said "Not now, i'm in the middle of a talk-" before he could finish a bear in overalls burst in and tossed a gas bomb into the room, setting it off and covering the whole room in a nauseous gas that made the chief and the other officers cough and fall to the ground.

The bear ran up to the cage where Ella was and, using his bear strength he broke the cage door and Ella snarled at him as she backed away and he held a leach and said "Come to your new master Zamir you little beast."

Ella tried to fight the bear but he was bigger, stronger and more fierce as he roared and scared Ella to death. Snickering he attached the leach to Ella and said "The roar always gets them. I think you'll make a better replacemeant then the one we lost."

Nick managed to arrive just in time to see Zamir drag Ella out and the fox snarled. Without thinking he leapt out of the car, jumped at the bear and yelled "LEAVE MY DAUGHTER ALONE!"

Zamir simply grabbed the fox and held him by his neck, laughing at the fox as he said "What good can you, a puny little fox, do against a big bear like me? I can crush anyone I want like a bug and I can bend anything into pretzels."

With that he tossed Nick away, knocking him out. When he woke up Ella and the bear were gone. Suddenly Nick no longer felt worthy of anything. He harmed Judy, he lost Ella and he feared that Kiana was already in grave danger... and there was nothing he could to about it. He sat down on the nearest bench he found, curled up on it and started crying. This was far worse then his horrible childhood memory, it was a living nightmare he couldn't wake up from.

"I'm a failure... a failure... I hurt my best friend, I lost my only kid, the girl of my dreams is going to be murdered... I... I... I can't... what will I do?"

"I'll tell you what, we go to the circus and stop those bears." said a familiar voice.

Nick looked up and saw Judy walking up to him with a warm smile on her face. For a moment he was happy... but he frowned and said "Just get it over with... I deserve a kick in the pants for what I did to you. I deserve it."

Instead of hurting the fox Judy climbed into his arms and gave him a hug. Nick was taken back by this "Wait... aren't you mad at me?"

"No... not one bit." Judy said "I know why you were angry... because you can't stand the idea of Ella being hurt... I understand that."

"I hurt you." Nick said "I hurt you because I was angry... but don't worry Judy, I promise i'll never hurt you again... will you forgive me?"

"I'll always forgive you Nick, always." Judy said with a soft smile "Now we have a child to save and a circus to invade, you ready?"

Nick grinned "More then ever."


	17. Chapter 17

**Chapter Seventeen**

After making up with one another, Nick and Judy quickly ran into the ZPD to cheek on everyone who was inside. When they got inside, Nick and Judy stared in shock when they saw that everyone within the main lobby knocked out either on the floor or the front desk. Nick quickly spotted Stan and Owen on the ground a few feet away from the desk where Clawhauser laid face first on the desk table. Nick ran over to the two while Judy jumped onto the desk to wake up the cheetah.

"Stan, Stan!" Nick shouted as he quickly lifted up the young pup's head as he began to lightly tap the side of the retriever's cheek "Come on kid, wake up!"

Stan let out a groan before his eyes slowly opened up to see Nick staring down at him in concern.

"Mr. Wilde?" Stan asked as Nick helped him sit up.

"Easy kid." Nick cautioned.

"What happened?" Stan asked as he held his head "All I remember is seeing this bear throw some kind of gas at me... then I passed out!"

"You and the others got knocked out," Nick said "And that bear took Ella in the process."

Stan's eyes widened when he heard that Ella had been taken and disappointment began to grow inside the young pup's heart. Nick noticed this before he gently placed a hand on the young dog's shoulder.

"It wasn't your fault kid," Nick reassured "No one could have known this was going to happen."

"Yeah, but still..." Stan started before Nick interrupted him with a pat on his back.

"Stan... we will get Ella back, no matter what." Nick said with determination.

Stan stared at Nick for a moment before nodding in agreement. Owen let out a groan as he began to come around before he slowly sat up.

"What happened?" The wolf asked.

Judy began to shake Clawhauser's shoulder as she tried to wake him up.

"Clawhauser, wake up!" Judy urged in a frantic voice.

"Five more minutes mom." the cheetah muttered in a sleepy voice before he began to snore.

Judy frowned in frustration before she stood up on the table and took in a deep breath. Nick quickly knew what his partner was going to do and quickly plugged his ears, along with Stan who quickly gave Owen a warning as the wolf quickly covered his ears as well.

"CLAWHAUSER!" Judy shouted at the top of her lungs.

At the sudden shout the cheetah quickly shot up in fear and surprise before he fell out of his chair and landed with a thud on the floor. Judy's wake up call also startled the other officers out of their unconscious state before they started to get their wits together. After about an hour of waking everyone else in the ZPD up, Judy and Nick sat in front of Chief Bogo's desk as they explained the whole situation to him and the chief of police wasn't happy at all about this.

"This is a great offence when it comes to opposing the law," Chief Bogo said in a gruff voice "Not to mention the crime that those two bears have committed by turning children feral just so that they could start another Great Hunt."

"Sir, me and Nick have a plan to apprehend those bears and bring them to justice," Judy said before she told the cape buffalo what they were going to do.

"Even if it does work, we still need a way to change those children back to their formal selves." Chief Bogo said as he rubbed the side of his head in exhaustion "Not to mention finding out who and where the children's parents are.

Nick and Judy frowned as they thought over what their boss told them. How were they going to be able to turn Ella and the other children back to their normal selves? It was then that Nick remembered the dart he had kept in his pocket when Ella became a feral and took it out before he stood up and placed the dart on the table.

"This dart might have the answer we're looking for." Nick said "This thing turned Ella into a savage and if we can figure out what kind of plant or chemical is in this dart then we can find the cure."

Bogo stared at the dart as he went into deep thought over what Nick said and then nodded before he said "If that's the case then we're going to need help from a doctor from one of the hospitals nearby."

"Maybe Dr. Madge can help." Judy said, remembering the honey badger they encountered during her and Nick's first case together "She might be able to find out what is in the dart."

"Yes, but there is still the concern of those feral children." Chief Bogo reminded Judy "Where exactly did they come from and where can we find their parents?"

Judy and Nick were in the middle of thinking this when they heard a knock coming from the chief's door and the cape buffalo groaned in frustration before he growled "Who is it?"

The door opened to reveal Stan and Owen coming in and Chief Bogo immediately recognized the blind wolf in front of him.

"Owen?" the cape buffalo asked.

"It's been a long time old friend." The wolf said with a smile as Stan closed the door behind them once they were inside the room.

"Too long," Chief Bogo said as he leaned against his desk "I thought you had moved away from Zootopia after you retired from the ZPD."

"Yes, I did." Owen said "But I came back here after hearing about how some human kids went missing from the town I was residing in and thought maybe you might be able to help, since your town is practically neighbors with mine and all."

"Wait a minute, you mean you're living with humans?" Judy asked in surprise.

"Yes, just outside of Willow River Town." Owen replied "I never made much contact with them before but then one day I met a family who wandered into my home by accident. After that we started to become friends and after I saved their father from a dangerous criminal who wanted to kill them I became part of the family. They even asked me to be the godfather their children. Nice family those Logans, it's to bad they're missing a daughter, she had mysteriously disappeared one day and nobody has seen her since for the last three years."

At the name Logan, Nick and Judy looked at each other in surprise before they turned to Owen with serious looks on their faces.

"Owen, can you tell us what that girl's name was?" Judy asked.

"Yes," Owen replied with a nod "That girl's name was Lucy Logan, her parents say that she's a kind young girl who was always eager to help people whenever she can. Here's her picture." The wolf gave the pair a picture of the missing girl and once the pair took a good look at her they realized that the feral girl Logan, the same one Ella had taken and tried to turn civilized, was the very same missing girl who had gone missing and knew that those bears had taken her, turned her feral and lied about her background by changing her appearance and knew that they did the same thing to the other children they turned feral.

"Owen, We think we know where Lucy might be." Nick said as he and Judy jumped off the chair they had been sitting in "But we're going to need your help to apprehend those bears in the circus and make them face the music for good."

"I'll help out in any way I can." Owen said with a smirk "Even thought I am blind, I still know how to take down crooks and defend myself."

"Thank you." Judy said.

"I'll send some undercover officers to help you take down the circus." Chief Bogo said as he stood up from his desk "You just give the word when you two have all the evidence from those freak show bears and we'll do the rest."

"Yes, Sir!" Judy and Nick exclaimed as they saluted their chief.

* * *

Meanwhile at the circus, Kiana and David were hiding in the back of the tent amongst the props. Logan was sitting besides Kiana as she looked around in discomfort and worry while Kiana gently petted her head.

"Easy girl," Kiana whispered as she clipped the leash onto Logan's collar before she gave It to David and the kids and said "David, you get the kids into their costumes while I go talk to Mr. Baloo. And take care of Logan for me."

David nodded and herded the kids away with Logan right behind the dingo. Once that was done, Kiana walked to the main part of the tent where she saw Mr. Baloo standing in front of a large cage. Kiana cleared her throat, catching the bear's attention, before she announced "Mr. Baloo, I found Logan."

"Splendid!" the bear said with a smirk, not bothering to look back to see that Kiana was alone "Put her with the others for now and come help me with training this new feral child my brother brought in."

"A... new feral, sir?" Kiana asked with a confused look on her face.

"Yes," Mr. Baloo said before he stepped aside to reveal Ella inside the cage with a collar around her neck and an angry look on her face.

Kiana gasped in fear and alarm when she saw Ella snarling and banging her body against the bars of the cage.

"Meet out newest performer, Geoff!" Mr. Baloo announced.

Ella snarled in fury at the name before letting out an ear piercing howl that resounded throughout the air for anyone with sharp ears to hear it.


	18. Chapter 18

**Chapter Eighteen**

Kiana could hardly believe it as Ella continued to thrash about inside the cage. It was how each feral was introduced to her, they'd be locked up, they'd be hers to train and then they would be put in her show. She always hated this routine and what was worse was that she knew who this feral was, sweet friendly little Ella... or rather she was. Now she was more like a wild animal then the wonderful little girl the vixen had grown to love.

"I expect her ready before it's your turn in the show tonight." Mr. Baloo said

"But... but sir, look at her! She's out of control!" Kiana exclaimed "She might try to hurt someone or hurt herself in the progress!"

"That's never stopped you before, why should this one be any different?" the bear asked

"Because... because I know who she really is!" Kiana cried "She's not a feral who deserved to be caged, she's a little girl who's father is practically worried sick about her when he realizes she is missing!"

"And that should be a concern why?" Mr. Baloo asked "He could always adopt another kid, it'll save time and trouble. Besides, do you think he would really love her now that she's practically a savage monster?"

Kiana grew angry as she shouted "You're the savage monster! All these years of neglect, abuse, taunting and more and you don't care about anyone but yourself!"

"That's what you get when you hitch a ride on the wrong circus train." Mr. Baloo said "And if I recall correctly I believe that it was your mother's idea to join my circus after seeing how exciting and wonderful my circus was to them."

"If mom knew how horrible you'd turn out to be we'd never would have joined or just stayed back home where I could've had a normal life with a bright future ahead of me instead of being forced to wear this shock collar and preform in this dumb act as a feral tamer."

"Bright future?" Mr. Baloo "What? With your family's backstabbing traitor? Who else would ever accept you knowing that your ancestor started the Great Hunt?"

At that Kiana's frown turned into a smile as she said "Actually, he didn't."

"What?" the bear asked

"I checked the Great War in the library during our stay and I discovered something shocking; The Great Hunt wasn't because of my ancestor, it was because of... Amanda and Alyssa themselves."

"It was?" Mr. Baloo asked in surprise.

"Yes, they had been tricked to allow the hunters to first enter Zootopia and had been used until they drove the hunters out themselves and went home."

"Well now... so that means that the very humans who saved Zootopia, were responsible for starting the Great War in the first place." The bear said "Wonder how their descendants will react to this?"

"That's the thing, there are no descendants." Kiana said "You see, shortly after the Great Hunter ended not only were the hunters killed out of punishment, someone murdered Amanda and Alyssa and nobody knows why... poor little girls, they never had the chance to grow up and start a family of their own."

At first Mr. Baloo was quiet then he started to chuckle and then broke into a loud roaring laugh as he said "Oh that's rich! What a bunch of fools they were!"

"What are you laughing at?" Kiana asked "What are you talking about?"

"I'm talking about those girls, those hunters, everything!" Mr. Baloo said "I know this because my ancestor killed them."

"What?" Kiana asked in shock.

"Of course, they asked for it. Let me explain." Mr. Baloo said "Once upon a time my ancestor Mal used to be close chums with the humans from Willow River Town. She allowed everyone to do whatever they wanted and never thought twice about the consequences. Then one day Amanda and Alyssa made the big mistake of inviting her to this wedding... then things turned ugly fast. Mal lost her husband and her only son Jay that fateful day and blamed those girls for it. She waited until the war was over before she stalked those girls back to their home. And just when those girls thought they were safe..."

He picked up a human shaped toy from nearby and gave it a death grip of a squeeze, so hard that the toy broke in his hands with parts flying everywhere, scaring Kiana out of her mind as he demonstrated how Mal killed Alyssa and Amanda before he continued the story.

"And if you think what she did was cruel don't blame her, she had to do it. Otherwise her other cubs would've perished." Mr. Baloo said "Ever since then humans have always been number one on my family's enemy list. Then one day it dawned on me, why not turn the tables on them? I discovered a formula that turns children into ferals and put them in my show and now it the time that those human fools in Zootopia finally pay for the pain and suffering they caused us."

"You really are mentally insane!" Kiana exclaimed "It's not going to work!"

"That's not going to stop me." Mr. Baloo said "The ferals will still tear everything apart, humans will be blamed and all of them will be relocated to somewhere far faraway! Heck, maybe off the face of the planet for all I care!"

"You'll pay for this you.. you beast!" Kiana exclaimed.

"Don't try to raise those fists my dear, remember this?" The bear asked as he held up a remote. It was the very same remote that worked on the shock collars worn by all the performers and the very thing that Kiana feared the most. Kiana backed away and her whole body shook in fear.

"That's better." Mr. Baloo said "Now go get our Geoff ready, the show starts in half an hour."

Once the bear left, Kiana ran over to the cage, stopping just a few inches away and curled up into a ball before she sobbed and said "Oh Ella... I'm so sorry! So very, very sorry!" as she continued to cry Ella stopped thrashing and looked at the vixen with sad eyes and Kiana noticed. Her ears picked up a rumbling sound and realized that it was coming from Ella's stomach as she whimpered and rubbed her stomach while it growled louder.

"Poor thing." Kiana said "Don't worry sweetie, I'll get you something to eat."

Kiana quickly left to get her some fruits and veggies to eat but when she returned the ringmaster's brother and the wolf were there trying to get Ella out of the cage by force!

"What are you doing?!" she cried as she ran over to them.

Before she knew it they grabbed her and stuffed her in the cage along with Ella as she snarled and bit the wolf's paw, making him yelp in pain as the bear locked the cage and said "There's been a change of plans with your act and the ferals. The police are coming for you and the girl, there's no denying it... so me and my brother thought that it's time for them, especially that fox and bunny pair, to join the show and see how we really do it under the big top. Now we need some bait... and I think we just found the perfect bait."

Kiana and Ella watched as the pair threw a tarp over their cage and Kiana became scared. Ella was scared as well as she whimpered and huddled close to the vixen. Kiana frowned as she embraced Ella in a comforting hug and said "Don't worry Ella, i'll figure out something. Just be brave for me okay?"

Ella continued to whimper as Kiana patted her back to comfort her. Then she noticed the padlock to their cage and got an idea.

* * *

As night fell over the city Nick, Judy and the others arrived at the circus and split up. Nick and Judy looked for David and the others while Stan and Owen walked the other way to look for the others. Nick and Judy continued their way until they bumped into the ringmaster as he finished adjusting his uniform and Judy said "Alright buster, enough fooling around. We know you have Ella and the other missing children here from all the countless cities you've visited. You hid them in plain sight by turning them into ferals and you're going to start the Great Hunt for your own amusement! You and your brother are under arrest for countless charges I can't even begin to list down on your criminal record."

"Sorry bunny cop, but I don't have time. The circus is starting and I have to get back out there to start the show."

"You are not going anywhere until you tell me where my daughter is!" Nick angrily snarled "Now where is she?!"

"She's waiting for our newest performers to take their places in our first act. The one where the ferals demonstrate how the Great Hunt worked long ago. We just need two volunteers to play the hapless victims they tear to shreds." Mr. Baloo said

"And who are you going to find that'll be that dumb?" Nick asked.

"Easy... I'm looking at them." Mr. Baloo said.

Suddenly a shadow loomed over Nick and Judy and they looked up just before the ringmaster's brother raised a bag over his head and with one swing he stuffed Nick and Judy into the bag and tied it shut.

Mr. Baloo laughed as he straightened his tie and said "It's show time!" before he walked out into the spotlight to greet the audience, all of them unaware of what the ringmaster really had in store for them.


	19. Chapter 19

**Chapter Nineteen**

Meanwhile out side the tent Owen and Stan were walking around outside the tent before they came to the back. They entered through the back entrance as they began to look around for David and the other kids, not knowing that someone was quietly following behind them. As the two partners hid behind some circus props with Stan watching some of the performers walking around and getting ready, but the performers looked sad and downhearted with not much of a pep in their steps.

"The performers don't look like themselves tonight." Stan said in a soft voice.

"I wouldn't blame them," Owen whispered after he heard what Stan told him "If I had been told about what was going on and that this circus is nothing but one big plan and act to recreate the Great Hunt then I wouldn't be this cheerful either."

"I hope Mrs. Hopps and Mr. Wilde are okay." Stan whispered in worry.

"I wouldn't worry about those two," Owen reassured with a smile "From what I heard, those two are a pretty good team, but I think who we should worry about now is us."

"Huh?" Stan asked as he looked up at Owen in confusion.

Suddenly Owen spun around and swept his staff a few inches from the ground where it hit the legs of the animal that was standing behind him. The stalker suddenly fell to the ground when he felt his legs swept out from underneath him. The stranger was about to sit up again when Owen whacked his staff on top of his head and knocked him out cold. Stan was amazed by how the blind wolf had handled himself before looking down at the stalker that the wolf had knocked out. The stranger that had been stalking them was none other then the wolf that Nick had told him about who had destroyed their clubhouse and had caused Ella to go savage.

Stan growled as he glared down at the wolf that had turned his friend into a feral child just so he could make big bucks, not caring about the lives he was damaging in the progress.

"From the sound of your growl I'm guessing that this wolf is one of those criminals that we will bring to justice?" Owen asked calmly.

"Yeah," Stan said "And I want to tear this guy limb from limb for what he did to my friend."

"Don't let your anger cloud your judgment Stan." Owen advised to the young pup "Right now we should tie this criminal up and get some answers from him."

Stan nodded before he looked around to see what he could use before spotting a thick robe about a foot away and grabbed it before he began to tie their captive up with help from Owen.

* * *

Noland groaned as he began to wake up from being unconscious before fully awakening to find himself tied up by a thick coil of rope. Noland struggled for a moment before he felt something tapping him on the head. The wolf looked up to see Owen and Stan standing before him with the blind wolf having a calm look on his face, while the golden retriever pup crossed his arm over his chest and glared at him with an angry look on his face. Noland let out a groan when he realized what was going on.

"I can't believe I've been taken out by a blind old wolf." Noland grumbled angrily.

"Old eh?" Owen questioned in a calm voice "If I'm old then that would make you a whippersnapper and my little partner here much older then you."

Stan smirked at what Owen had said but Noland was not amused by that joke what so ever.

"Ha!" the wolf criminal scoffed "Laugh all you want but you won't be laughing for long after what's going to happen tonight."

"Oh really?" Owen asked in a none excited tone of voice "Because from what I heard about this circus, it's nothing special compared to some of the other circuses I've been to."

Noland's fur began to bristle in anger at Owen's easygoing attitude before he yelled to the wolf and the golden retriever pup in anger "You chumps won't have long to live once Mr. Baloo releases the feral humans into the crowd tonight! I hear he's even throwing that rabbit and fox cop into the performance for the fun of it!"

Stan's featured took on a look of horror at what Noland had said. Nick and Judy were in trouble? This was not going to be easy when it came down to the plan in taking down Mr. Baloo and his brother, not with the lives of thousands of innocent people hanging in the balance.

"Those murderous humans and those traitorous animals are going to get what's coming to them!" Noland yelled as he continued on his rant "Those humans have caused nothing but pain and grief for us in Zootopia a thousand years ago and for that they shouldn't deserve to live among us animals because of it. They're all nothing but monsters that should be banished to the farthest reaches of the world and should never be heard from ever again!"

Owen continued to stand calmly in front of Noland after listening to his rant while Stan snarled and bristled at what the wolf they tied up had said about humans before he stepped forward and spoke to him.

"You're one to talk!" The golden retriever pup exclaimed "You talk about humans being monsters because they had hunted us animals a long time ago, but from what I see now you're the one who's the monster under this huge tent! You and those two psychopathic bears who can't let go of a past event that happened a long time ago! Sure there might be some humans who are bad, but there are also some humans that are good! Like my friend Ella for instance, if it weren't for her and the help of Zootopia's best officers then this city would have fallen into chaos with prey fearing predator!"

"The young pup's right you whippersnapper," Owen said in a wise voice "For you see, a monster can take on any form when it comes down to the hate that grows inside a normal being if left to fester for too long. The path you have chosen young wolf is a dark one caused by the hatred that you and your family have carried throughout your life long history. And we could continue on about this for a long time but my junior officer and I have something more important to do, so why don't you take a nice long rest for now."

Before Noland could ask why he should rest, Owen whacked his staff on the bad wolf's head again and made him fall back into unconsciousness again. Once that was done, Owen reached for the radio that was on his belt before he lifted it to his mouth and spoke into it.

"Things are going to get a little complicated from here on out C.B." Owen said as he told Chief Bogo what was going on.

* * *

In the main tent Mr. Baloo was standing within the middle of the ring as he looked at the audience that sat before him with a smirk. Everything was going according to plan as he became intoxicated about what was about to transpire in a few moments. The bear soon took on a dramatic pose as he began to talk to the crowd of humans and animals galore.

"Welcome ladies and gentlemen, to a night of pure excitement here in the Roaring Wild Brothers' Circus!" Mr. Baloo shouted in a booming voice.

The crowd roared with excitement and joy at what they were going to witness tonight, not knowing that their lives will be hanging in the balance of what was going to transpire before their very eyes.

"Tonight, we have a very special act to perform for you all!" Mr. Baloo continued "This will be an act that you will never forget... throughout your entire lifetimes!"


	20. Chapter 20

**Chapter Twenty**

Meanwhile David, Susan, Logan, Chris, Jason and Isabella were looking all over for Nick and Judy while trying to blend in with the circus environment. David had Jason and Isabella dressed as clowns with fake animal parts like fur and ears and tails attached and Chris and Susan were dressed as acrobats with jump rope attached to their belts. The group wandered around for a moment before they bumped into Owen and Stan just as Owen had finished his call.

"Guys! Boy are we glad to see you!" Jason exclaimed.

"I was worried I was going to be stuck dressed like this forever." Isabella said "Where's Nick and Judy? Don't tell me they're not with you!"

"Well, I have good news and bad news." Owen said "The good news is that the cure has been made and is on it's way."

"And the bad news?" Chris asked

"The bad news is that the circus is starting right now and by the time the cure gets here it'll be too late to prevent chaos that'll happen in about several seconds from now." Owen said "We need a plan and fast. Anyone got any ideas?"

"We've got to stop them! We have to stall them long enough for the cure to get here!" Susan exclaimed.

"I have an idea, let's go!" Stan said

Logan whimpered as she tugged David's shirt, and he responded by patting her head "Don't worry girl, everything will be alright. And think of it this way, you'll finally sink your teeth into an animal that deserves a bite in the butt."

* * *

Meanwhile Nick felt his head hurt as he rubbed his head and regained consciousness to find himself inside a cage with Judy lying next to him in deep sleep. It was dark but thanks to his special night vision he could see that he was below some kind of stage with props and other pieces of junk scattered around and the sound of cheers could be heard from the roof.

"Oh man, those bears really went all out." Nick said as he rubbed his head "And they're not as dumb as I thought. One minute we're complaints about the way they treat their guests and volunteers and the next they gasses you and stuffs you in a cage while your sawing logs."

He reached over to Judy and nudged her gently as he asked "Carrots, carrots wake up!"

"Ugh, hit the snooze... it's the weekend." Judy mumbled in her sleep.

"It's not even Sunday carrots, wake up!" Nick said as he shook her harder.

Judy woke up and instinctively kicked Nick right in his stomach, making him grunt in pain and cry out "OUCH! Carrots! It's me!"

"Oh my gosh, i'm so sorry Nick!" Judy exclaimed in shock and surprise while she recovered from her deep sleep "Are you okay?"

"Well, other then the fact you kicked me in the stomach, now probably bruised and my last meal isn't sitting to well." Nick said sarcastically "But other then that I'm just peachy."

Suddenly the cage they were in lifted up and they soon found themselves emerging from the floor and entering the circus in the middle of it's first act, and the ring was decorated like one big thick jungle with palm trees and vines and bushes and more. Suddenly the cage they were in fell apart and blinding lights made Nick and Judy cover their eyes in pain as Mr. Baloo's voice rang out for all to hear.

"And now a brief peek into the past, back when the mighty predator and the meek prey stalked the land as savage animals." he bellowed "But they were not alone, for hunting them down were creatures who hunted anything they wanted. Beasts from the darkest shadows of the earth who stalked the predators and prey who came near them... they were called... feral humans!"

"Why do I have the feeling i'm not going to like what comes next?" Nick asked

Suddenly a feral boy jumped out of the bushes and pinned down Nick as he gasped and tried to push him off his body saying "Whoa kid! Stop it! Uh, Jake, Donny, Red, Alf or whatever your name used to be, just snap out of it and think of modern things, like pizza delivery service!"

The boy was about to bite when Judy kicked him off, throwing him into a crowd of gathering feral children, all snarling and hissing at them as Judy told the boy she kicked "Sorry! Nothing personal!"

"Now what Carrots?" Nick asked as they huddled close while the feral kids crept closer to them.

"I don't know." Judy said.

Suddenly another feral child arrived, this time it was one they remembered and the one currently trying to fend this army all by herself to save Nick and Judy.

Nick and Judy smiled before the jungle items begin to vanish underground one by one until there was nothing left but the ferals and the two animal cops. Once the ferals saw the audience they ran straight towards them, snarling and biting as the crowd gasped in horror at this terrible turn of evens.

Before one of them could sink they're teeth on someone Susan and Chris swung down, grabbed the ferals and threw them back at the others. This shocked Mr. Baloo as he shouted "Hey! There are no acrobats in this act!" Then he gasped when Isabella and Jason arrived and, like rodeo clowns, they distracted the savages and lured them away from the bleachers "And I did not hire some clowns for the show either! Someone get them out of here!"

"Hello." Owen said from behind the ringmaster.

Before the bear had time to respond Owen whacked him with his cane and swept him off his feet with his cane, sending him crashing into the ground with a thud. Everyone laughed at the sight while the others gathered up the ferals with Isabella counting them before she said "Wait a minute, where's Ella?"

Zamir pushed out the tarp covered cage and stood a few feet before them as he said "Nobody move or they get it."

He lifted the tarp to show them Ella with Kiana, trying to use a bobby pin to escape, before covering the tarp again and lighting a match. Nick was outraged but he didn't want to risk any harm coming to Ella and Kiana. Zamir knew he had them right where he wanted them and was about to speak again when the whole tarp caught on fire! He had accidently placed the lit match on the flammable tarp and now it was catching fire, burning his paw in the progress before he removed the tarp to put out his paw. When he did both Ella and Kiana were gone.

Nick was confused until someone tapped him and he turned around to see Kiana and Ella behind him, making him yelp before he embraced them in a tight hug.

"Kiana! How did you do that?" Nick exclaimed happily.

"When you've grown up with circus performers you pick up a thing or two." Kiana said with a smile and a wink.

As the other performers danced and played in front of the confused crowd the ringmaster got up and stared at the sight in shock and horror. This was not apart of his plan at all! He roared in anger at charged at the foxes as Nick stood in front of Kiana to protect her from her insane boss. Ella watched on before something clicked in her memory the moment Nick told Kiana "Don't worry baby, I won't let him hurt you!"

Suddenly she knew who this fox was, he was no stranger, he was her closest friend, her guardian, her father! Ella charged ahead and attacked Mr. Baloo, scratching and biting the bear as he thrashed about in anger before he grabbed her and threw her off him, resulting in Ella rolling across the circus floor before stopping, unconscious. Nick fled to his daughter's side as fear overcame him and he gently nudged her but she didn't move. Nick felt tears forming in his eyes as he stared at her in worry and feared that she was seriously hurt or dead or worse! Mr. Baloo saw his chance to strike and loomed over the fox, ready to beat him to death before Nick turned and, with an angry yell, he tackled the bear to the ground. Fire raged in Nick's eyes as he snarled at the ringmaster.

This time, no more Mr. Nice guy, this time it was personal.


	21. Chapter 21

**Chapter Twenty One**

Judy and the others watched in shock as Nick began to bite and claw at Mr. Baloo with a wild look on the fox's face. Seeing his daughter getting hurt had snapped something inside Nick as he lashed out at the bear that had hurt Ella. Mr. Baloo cried out in pain as he tried to get Nick off of him, but Nick easily avoided his grasp as he kept up his attacks. Judy tore her gaze away from the scene in front of her as she quickly made her way over to Ella before Kneeling down beside the unconscious girl's side. Judy lifted Ella's head up and began to look her over before the rabbit placed her two fingers on the side of Ella's neck and found a pulse.

"Oh thank goodness," Judy sighed as relief washed over her body.

Kiana quickly ran up to Judy with a look of Concern on her face.

"Is Ella okay?" Kiana asked

"Yeah," Judy replied with a smile before it changed into a frown as she turned to look over at Nick "But we have to find some way of calming Nick down."

Kiana watched in complete befuddlement as she wasn't sure how they were going to snap the fox out of his raging state, but then she was taken off guard when she felt a sudden electric shock go through her body. The vixen let out a scream of pain as she fell to her knees and clutched the shock collar. Judy stared in shock for a moment before she turned her head around when she heard laughter to her right and saw Zamir holding the remote control for the shock collar in his right hand.

"You should have just been good and did whatever we told you do to fox." Zamir said with a sadistic smirk on his face "Now you and all of your preforming buddies are going to suffer the consequences."

Kiana let out another yell as the pain from the electricity began to become more intense around her."

"Stop it Zamir!" Judy shouted in anger.

Zamir ignored Judy and continued to torture Kiana with the powerful electrical current within Kiana's collar, but before he could make the power go higher he was suddenly taken by surprise when Logan jumped out of nowhere and bit the bear in the wrist, making him drop the remote in shock and pain. With the power in her collar off, Kiana slumped forward in exhaustion as she supported her front upper body by planting her hands on the ground while she gasped for breath. Zamir growled as she glared at Logan, who was still biting his wrist, before he gave a mighty swing of his arm and dislodged Logan's hold on him, sending her flying through the air before she landed on the ground with a hard thud while letting out a yelp of pain.

"Lucy!" Judy shouted in fear.

Zamir growled in fury as he walked towards Logan, who laid on the ground in pain and stared helplessly as the bear marched towards her. Zamir had only gotten about two feet of Logan when he was suddenly struck in the back of his head by Owen's staff before the wolf flipped over the bear and stood before him to protect Logan.

"You're not laying a finger on my godchild!" Owen growled as the 42 year old blind wolf took on a fighting stance.

Zamir only growled in anger as he glared down at the blind wolf "You've just made the biggest mistake in your life by facing a bear like me old man!"

Zamir raised up his right fist and threw it forward, only for Owen to easily dodge it before stabbing his staff into Zamir's stomach. The bear let out a grunt in pain when the staff hit him in the gut before he was punched in the face by Owen, who used the distraction to get a good hit. Judy was impressed by the wolf's battle tactics for a while before she heard Ella giving out a whimper. She quickly turned to look down at the young human as Ella slowly opened her eyes and looked up at the rabbit as Judy smiled down at her.

"It's okay Ella." Judy said as she gently brushed a strand of hair away from Ella's face "You're safe, nobody is going to hurt you."

Ella stared up at Judy as recognition came over the young girl's face as she remembered who this rabbit was. Ella slowly sat up before she nuzzled her face against Judy's face. Judy smiled as she nuzzled her human friend back, but the two girls quickly pulled apart when they heard the sound of Nick yelping out in pain. Ella and Judy quickly turned their heads to see Nick being pinned down by Mr. Baloo as the bear began to choke the fox by grasping his paws around the fox's neck.

"Nick!" Judy shouted fearfully.

Ella snarled as she bolted forward and jumped onto Mr. Baloo's back before biting down hard on the back of the bear's neck. Mr. Baloo yelled in sheer pain as he let go of Nick before reaching behind him and threw Ella off of him. Ella landed on the ground with a thud and let out a whimper of pain before Nick ran to her side in an instant to protect her from the mad ringmaster. Mr. Baloo stood up to his full height as he glared down at Nick and Ella in anger.

"I should have known that you would be nothing but trouble you... you brat!" Mr. Baloo shouted in frustration as he pointed a claw at Ella, who received a snarl back from the girl "But I'll fix you, I'll fix you good! I'll put a shock collar on you and all the other children I've turned feral just like what I did with all of my circus performers!"

The people within the seats gasped in horror at what Mr. Baloo had just said before they all began to go into a raging riot. Mr. Baloo realized his mistake too late as he turned to look around him to see many of the humans and animals booing at him in disgust along with throwing things at him. Mr. Baloo growled in anger as he turned to glare at Nick and Ella again, only to yelp in shock when he saw a group of ZPD officers standing in front of him with a glare of disapproval on their faces. Chief Bogo was one of the many officers standing before the bear with his arms crossed over his chest.

"You've just committed one of the largest crimes in history Mr. Baloo." Chief Bogo said in a serious voice "Kidnapping human children from their families, changing them into feral savages, endangering the lives of many trying to recreate the Great Hunt, forcing your performers to wear shock collars, and to top it all off, kidnapping the daughter of one of my finest officers!"

"Why should you care?" Snarled Mr. Baloo as he pointed towards Nick and Ella, with Nick protectively standing beside his daughter "Don't you idiots get it?! Humans are nothing but monsters who will stab you in the back just as soon as you turn away from them! There's no room for any of them here in Zootopia or anywhere else and besides, you can't take me and my brother to jail. Nobody will believe you or anyone else here! After all... it's my word against yours!"

Judy and Kiana walked up with smirks on their faces as they stood beside Nick and Ella while Judy held out her carrot pen.

"Oh, Actually..." Judy started before she pressed the rewind button on her carrot pen and pressed play on what she had just recorded on it.

"I'll put a shock collar on you and all the other children I've turned feral just like what I did with all my circus performers!"

"It's your word against yours." Judy said with a smirk.

Mr. Baloo's mouth dropped in horror once he realized the jig was up and turned to see his brother being tied up by Owen and his performers. Mr. Baloo tried to make a run for it but a tranquilizer was shot into his left shoulder fallowed by several more that practically covered his whole back before the bear toppled over and fell to the ground unconscious with a dazed look on his face. Bogo and a few of the officers took Mr. Baloo, his brother and Noland away to jail while the rest took care of the feral children and the circus performers, freeing them from their shock collars at long last. Nick helped Kiana take off her shock collar and tossed it away before Kiana gave him another kiss on his cheek, which Nick returned with sheer joy. Isabella, Stan, Jason, Chris and Susan stood with Ella as the feral girl looked at her friends in confusion, not quite remembering them yet.

"Hey Ella," Stan said as he slowly walked forward towards her "It's me... Stan."

Ella stared long and hard at the golden retriever before recognition played out on her face. Ella let out a friendly bark towards her friends, all whom sighed in relief when they realized Ella remembered them. Nick walked over to the children as he stood in front of Ella before hugging her as tightly as he dared.

"I'm so glad you're okay sweetheart," Nick said as Ella nuzzled up against him "Don't you ever scare me like that again."

Ella let out a whimper of apology before she opened her mouth and spoke the first word that came to her head since she became feral "Daddy."

Nick was surprised by this for a second before he smiled as he leaned back and ruffled his daughter's hair. That was when Mr. Madge and a few other doctors came into the tent with the cure to change the feral children back to their normal selves. They did have a little trouble with the feral children since they lash out at one of the doctors that came to close to them but with Kiana's help all of the children received the vaccine before Mr. Madge came to Logan, who was sitting between Owen and Kiana. Logan shrunk back in fear at the needle the honey badger doctor had and Kiana tried to calm her down but to no avail. That was when Owen knelt down to her level and began to do little circles on her back before softly humming a song he knew Logan would remember. Logan finally calmed down long enough for Dr. Mage to inject the vaccine into her before walking towards Ella. Ella sat perfectly still as the doctor came over to her while Nick, Judy and Ella's friends stood by her side.

"How long before the vaccine kicks in?" Nick asked as he gently patted his daughter's head to comfort her.

"In about a few minutes." Dr. Madge replied as she took Ella's arm and injected the vaccine into her system "Until then they will become drowsy and fall asleep, which will help the vaccine take it's course. We'll have to take them to the hospital so that we can check them all over for any serious injuries."

Ella let out a whimper as she looked at her father, who gave her a smile of comfort as the fox hugged his daughter once again.

"Don't worry baby, i'm going to stay with you no matter what." Nick said.

Ella and Logan were soon let into an ambulance by Owen, Nick and Judy as they entered the vehicle with them. That was when the vaccine kicked in and Ella soon found herself falling asleep in her father's protective arms.


	22. Chapter 22

**Chapter Twenty Two**

Several hours later after the doctors had tended to all of the children and alerted their parents the former feral children were put to sleep and were now resting in separate rooms. Nick kept true to his word and remained by his daughter's side the whole time and right now he was fast asleep on his chair as he waited for his daughter to wake up. Finally, around 5:30 A.M., Ella began to stir.

Nick's ears heard the sound of her moaning before he snapped awake and looked up just in time to see her moving. Her eyes opened and she sat up yawning and rubbed her eyes. Nick smiled as he rushed over to her bed and climbed onto the bed to gave her a hug, one he never wanted to let go of, and said "Ella, baby, are you alright?"

"Yeah, I'm okay." Ella said "A little dizzy but I'll be fine."

"Oh kiddo, I'm loving the sound of your voice right about now." Nick said as he continued to hug her "I told you I'd get you back to normal and... Oh baby, you have no idea how happy I am to see you like this again! Uh, civilized I mean."

Ella frowned before she said "Daddy... about what I said before I turned into a feral... I'm so sorry. I'm sorry about all those bad things I said. I just got so mad and I couldn't stop myself... but looking back now... I guess I'm not ready to grow up yet as I thought... for now I'll stick to being Daddy's little girl."

"No honey, if there's anyone who needs to apologize for bad behavior it's me." Nick said sadly.

"Why?" Ella asked

"Because... I behaved horribly..." Nick said, his heart trembling at that horrible memory of their argument before Ella turned savage "I was just trying to protect you, like all good fathers do with their kids... but I went overboard and exaggerated... and hurt your feelings. I never meant all those horrible things I said, I'm so sorry. It's just... seeing you with a boyfriend made me so mad... but I was more scared then I was angry... because I was afraid that I was going to lose the only daughter I have. I guess I'm not the tough and fearless father you thought I was after all."

Ella smiled and said "Daddy, you don't have to be tough and fearless to be my daddy. The best parent in the whole world isn't the biggest, strongest, smartest or the most perfect person on the whole planet... The best parent any kid could be proud to have is one that cares the most. Besides, just because I hang out with someone I like it doesn't mean that you'll lose me. Whatever will happen in the future I'll always be your daughter and you will always be my dear daddy."

Nick felt so proud that tears began to fall from his eyes as their hug got tighter and he began to cry for a while before he said "Thank you baby... thank you for all of this."

"You're welcome daddy." Ella said.

"And if you still want to hang out with that Cody guy, then you have my permission. If going out with him makes you happy then I'm happy as well." Nick said as they parted at last.

"Oh yeah, actually daddy about that..." Ella said uneasily "After what had happened I don't want to hang out with him anymore."

"Really? Why?" Nick asked

"It turns out he wasn't really as cool as I thought." Ella said "Remember when I went savage? Before I blacked out I saw him run away from me. I guess that means he's not the kind of guy I want so we're breaking up."

Nick smiled and said "Good, and don't worry, one day you will find someone who will like you enough to treat you right, someone who's loyal, determined to keep you safe and treat you with care... and someone who's not such a big baby that they'd abandon a damsel in distress."

As he laughed at his little joke Ella playfully nudged him saying "Daddy, come on!"

"What? Can't daddy make a few jokes about this?" Nick asked

Ella smiled before she let out another yawn and said "I'm still really tired."

"Then rest up a little more." Nick said "You need it after everything we've been through."

Ella nodded before she curled up in her bed and yawned while Nick tucked her in and gave her a kiss on her forehead saying "Have a good nap my little darling."

"Okay Daddy, I love you." Ella said before she closed her eyes and fell asleep.

"I love you too honey." Nick whispered to her before he quietly left the room and closed the door behind him to let Ella sleep.

Nick walked down the halls and watched with a smile as several other children awoke from their slumber and were reunited with their families and their friends at long last. Nick paused in the room that had Logan, or Lucy, inside with Owen, with the wolf happily cradling her like a baby as she playfully giggled and snuggled herself against his fur coat saying "I love you wolf daddy."

"And I love you sweetie." Owen said

Nick strode up to him and said "Well, how does it feel to finally meet your goddaughter now that she's no longer a feral?"

"Pretty great." Owen said "Lucy, say hello to Officer Nick Wilde, one of the officers who came and rescued you and the others from that bad circus."

Lucy looked at Nick before she buried her face in the wolf's fur and whimpered.

"Sorry about that, she's really shy to strangers." Owen said "She wouldn't even get near me until I explained to her about her family and about how I'm her godfather."

"Hey kid, how are you doing?" Nick said as he smiled at the little girl, who peered at him for a moment before he tickled her tummy, making her giggle and coo playfully before her tummy let out a loud rumble and she said "Wolf Daddy, I'm hungry."

"Then let's go to the cafeteria and fill up that little belly of yours." Owen said, tickling her middle to make her giggle before leaving while Lucy waved at Nick and blew him a kiss. Nick could've sworn that he felt that kiss on his cheek and smiled.

He walked out and soon came across Kiana, who was crying as she shed tears with a frown on her face. Nick walked up to her side and said "Kiana, what's wrong? Aren't you glad you don't work in the circus anymore?"

"I am," Kiana said "And I'm grateful you rescued all of us and removed those horrible shock collars and reunited all of us with our families... but I'm going to miss my beloved children. Don't get me wrong I know they were feral and all but... but I still love them all. They were like my own children and I care for all of them... but now they are back where they belong and i'm happy for all of them, even my dear little Logan, or should I say Lucy? Anyway, i'm going to miss all of them and... to be honest I don't have anywhere to go now that i'm not a circus performer anymore... what will I do now?"

Nick scooted closer and reached into his pockets before he pulled out a beautiful silver ring as he said "You know, my mom told me to give this ring to the most beautiful girl in the whole world and make her mine someday, and at first I thought being single was all I needed. But... now that I'm a parent and all, I'm starting to think that maybe both Ella and I could use a new addition to our family, Ella would have the most wonderful mommy in the world, I would get the girl of my dreams, and maybe, before summer is over, we'll hear the pitter patter of little baby fox feet around the house so Ella could play with her new baby brothers and sisters."

"What are you saying?" Kiana asked before realization came up on her face as she blushed bright red and watched at Nick slipped the ring around her finger.

"Kiana, I know that this is sudden and all but... will you marry me?" Nick asked

Kiana was shocked for a moment before tears fell down her eyes and a happy smile grew on her face as she cried "Oh Nick! Yes! Yes! Yes, I will marry you!"

Kiana tackled him in a tight hug and gave him a kiss, this time lip to lip, and Nick happily kissed her back. Kiana was everything he could ever wish for and Nick was everything she could ever wish for. Sure they didn't go on any official dates and all but love bloomed for them because of one thing they have in common, their care and love for their children and their strong sense of justice. That was something neither future husband and wife would trade for anything else in the world.


	23. Chapter 23

**Chapter Twenty Three**

After a few days of recovery, Ella was finally let out of the hospital along with the other children that had turned feral. Ella was so excited when Nick told her that Kiana was going to become her mother and that they were going to get married in two months after they figured out where to have their wedding ceremony at. Nick had also told Judy of this news and Judy was happy that Nick had found someone to love, but she was also a little sad that by marrying Kiana, Nick wouldn't need her in his life anymore. She made sure he didn't know about her discomfort since she didn't want to spoil anything for him and helped him with his plans for the wedding, but her discomfort didn't go unnoticed by Ella. She had noticed how strange Judy had been acting and was a little worried and curious about what was going on so she decided to ask as soon as she got the chance.

She got her chance when one day Nick and Kana were hanging out with each other and left Ella alone in the care of Judy so they'd have the house all to themselves. Judy was sitting at the kitchen table as she stared down at her empty mug for a while before Ella walked into the room and took a seat next to her at the table.

"Hey Judy," Ella greeted with a gentle smile.

"Hey," Judy replied in a distracted voice.

Ella frowned as she scratched the back of her head in thought before she spoke "So... how are you doing?"

"I'm fine." Judy replied.

"No, you're not fine, your ears are droopy." Ella pointed out as she looked at Judy with a serious look on her face.

Judy didn't reply for a moment, but after a while she began to talk "I'm just thinking about this whole wedding thing." She looked up at Ella with a small smile on her face "I mean, it's going to be pretty big and not to mention that you'll be getting a mother in the process, like you've always wanted."

"Yeah," Ella said with a smile "It's going to be really great that we'll be a whole family."

"Yeah, but where will that leave me?" Judy asked as she stood up from the table and walked over to the kitchen counter. Ella frowned as she watched the rabbit for a while before sighing and made her way up to her room. Suddenly she realize what Judy was worried about, once Nick and Kiana married, what would happen to Judy? Would she still be part of her family... or would she have to leave forever?

* * *

Night time came to Zootopia and Ella was sitting in her bed in her short sleeved blue nightgown as she held and stared at the framed picture of her, Nick and Judy. They had taken the photo together after Nick had graduated into becoming part of the ZPD and had been her favorite picture ever since. Ella sadly smiled at the picture in her hands before she heard a knock at her door and the door opened to reveal Nick in a blue pajama shirt and grey pajama pants.

"Hey kiddo, it's getting late." Nick said as he walked into the room "You should be in bed."

"Sorry dad," Ella said with a sad smile on her face before looking down at the picture again "I just have a lot on my mind."

"Nick frowned at what his daughter said before he walked towards the bed and sat down next to her.

"Do you want to talk about it?" Nick asked

"It's about Judy." Ella said "She's been acting strange for some reason so I asked her and she sounded like she's worried Kiana would replace her or something. Or maybe she thinking... about leaving our family."

Ella's eyes began to swell up before she said "Daddy, will Auntie Judy have to move out because of me getting a mommy?"

Nick frowned at the thought as he rubbed the underside of his jaw for a moment before looking up at his daughter once again saying "Don't worry, she won't leave us. It's just a misunderstanding. But don't worry about it, I'll talk to Carrots in the morning and while you and Kiana spend some time together I'll straighten the whole thing out and everything will be fine."

Ella smiled as she set the picture frame on her nightstand "Okay."

Ella crawled underneath her bed covers and snuggled into her pillow. Nick kissed his daughter good night before walking out of the room and turning off the light before walking out of his daughter's room, while closing the door behind him.

* * *

The next morning Kiana and Ella spent the day together by doing some window shopping while Nick and Judy walked around the city. They were wearing their usual clothes since they weren't working today and soon they came to the park where they sat down at a bench to rest for a while before Nick began to talk.

"So... Ella told me that you've been acting a little strange yesterday Carrots." Nick said with a smirk as he leaned back against the beach.

Judy stiffened at what Nick had said before she turned to look at her partner with a nervous look on her face as she said "Me, strange? What makes you say that?"

"Well, for one thing your nose is twitching." Nick said as he pointed a finger at Judy's nose "Second, you're a terrible liar."

Judy bit the bottom of her lip as she turned to look at the ground in defeat, gripping the bottom of her shirt tightly as well.

"Judy, level with me," Nick said with a serious look on his face "What's wrong?"

Judy knew she had no choice but to spill the beans so she took a deep breath and, with a trembling voice, she said "W-well, I'm happy, really happy, that you and Kiana are getting married and everything. And I'm glad that Ella is getting a mother but... I can't help but wonder where it all leaves me."

"What do you mean?" Nick asked with a frown.

"What I mean Nick is..." Judy hesitated for a moment before she finally spoke her thoughts about her fears for the future "Now that you have Kiana becoming Ella's mother and letting her live with you, there won't be any room for me in both you or Ella's lives anymore. I'll only get to be able to see you guys when I'm either off work or when you and I are together when fighting crime."

Nick's eyes widened at what Judy said before he frowned in displeasure. "So what?" He asked sharply "Are you saying that you're going to leave?"

Judy didn't answer as she turned her head away in shame and sadness. Nick's face softened as he looked at her for a moment before he took a deep breath and surprised her by bringing her in for a hug.

"Sorry Carrots, but that's not going to happen." Nick said as Judy looked up at him in confusion "Judy... I love you, you're like a sister to me and Ella looks up to you as if you were her aunt. If you went away then you'll only upset me and Ella... but it doesn't mean you have to leave just because of a new family member. We've been through a lot together and when we came out, we always stuck together no matter what force was against us... What I'm trying to say is... Judy, your apart of my family and you're stuck with all of us no matter what."

Judy stared up at Nick in disbelief for a moment before tears swelled up in her eyes and she quickly wrapped her arms around Nick's waist as the fox comforted her with a soft smile on his face.

"Oh you bunnies, you're so emotional." Nick joked with a chuckle.

Judy could only giggle at that remark as she held tight to her partner and adopted brother happily.

* * *

Soon after sorting things out with Judy, the two months flew by for the family until Nick and Kiana now stood under an alter together in a church with many of their friends, animals and humans alike, taking part of their wedding ceremony. Nick was wearing a black tuxedo while Kiana was wearing a beautiful wedding dress. Ella and Judy sat together with Judy's family, along with Finnick who was being pestered by one of Judy's little sisters, as they watched Nick and Kiana in excitement and happiness. After exchanging their vows, the two foxes brought their muzzles together and kissed. Everyone let out cheers of joy, accompanied with roaring, howling, and trumpeting noises from the animal guests. Ella finally had everything she wanted in her life; a father, a mother and an aunt to help raise her within the beautiful, miraculous and wonderful city of Zootopia as the family she was truly meant to be with forever.

 **The End!**


End file.
